HitecVision is pleased to announce the sale of Apply’s headquarters in Stavanger to W.P. Carey for NOK 645 million.
HitecVision’s focus on real estate activities is to capture low risk return from creating tailor made solutions for our portfolio companies real estate needs. This is an intrinsic part of HitecVision’s balance sheet program of which real estate constitutes an important part. We review on a regular basis the future real estate needs and exposure of our portfolio companies to identify potential value enhancing initiatives. These projects will always be the result of an analysis of potential on- and off balance sheet transactions, similar to the sale-leaseback transaction of Normand Vision completed in July 2014.
In late 2010 Apply was in need for more office space and at the same time wanted to re-locate the various business units into one location. Rather than signing a 10 year lease with a property company, HitecVision and Køhlergruppen, decided that Apply should develop and build the new headquarters itself. The size of the office was well suited for a stand alone project and our analysis indicated the potential for generating substantial profits by doing this as a company project.
The office is a Class-A, modern, highly energy efficient headquarter building and consists of approximately 20,754 square meters, 157 indoor parking spaces and 202 outdoor parking spaces, located on a plot totaling 14,185 m², in Forus, Stavanger.
W. P. Carey’s financial strength, experience working with global private equity firms and their track record of delivery in the Norwegian market made them an ideal counterparty for this transaction. W. P. Carey is a New York based REIT group comprised of its private CPA REIT series of funds and publicly traded REIT W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC).
