Blackstone to Buy Out Finland’s Sponda Plc

Sponda’s Forum shopping center In Helsinki. The investment firm has a portfolio valued at about US$4 billion.

HELSINKI—The board of Finnish real estate investment firm Sponda Plc has unanimously approved a takeover offer by the Blackstone Group. Blackstone’s bid would pay €5.19 per Sponda share in a deal valued at €1.76 billion, or approximately US$2 billion, a 20.2% premium on Sponda’s closing price this past Friday.

“Our proposed acquisition represents another step in Blackstone’s longstanding strategy of investing in high-quality real estate assets and businesses across the Nordic region,” says James Seppälä, head of European real estate acquisitions at Blackstone. “We are excited about this opportunity to invest in the commercial real estate market in Finland and are delighted with the strong support that our offer has received from Sponda’s board, management and leading shareholders.” Swedish real estate fund manager Areim AB will be a co-investor with Blackstone; the size of Areim’s stake in the Sponda bid was not disclosed.