Swedish Retail Portfolio Fetches $580M-Plus

STOCKHOLM—Starwood Capital Group, says an affiliate of the firm has acquired seven shopping centers in prime locations in Sweden from Kooperativa Forbundet (KF), a leading Swedish retail group, for approximately $587 million (SEK 3.9B). Starwood was joined in the deal by Vencom, which is a minority investor and will serve as the operating partner for the properties.

Located in Sweden’s four largest cities – Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo and Uppsala— the seven properties comprise approximately 205,000 square meters. The transaction also includes existing building rights for an additional 70,000 square meters of expansion space spread over three of the locations. The properties are currently 96% leased and each location is anchored by a Coop, Sweden’s second-largest supermarket chain. In addition to Coop, the tenant roster is comprised of well-known Swedish and international retailers such as XXL, MediaMarkt, H&M and Systembolaget.  As part of the transaction, Starwood has extended the Coop leases at four of the seven locations, nearly doubling the weighted average unexpired lease term.