Varma to sell all of the remaining shares in SATO

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company sells all of its shares in SATO Oyj representing an ownership of about 22.8 percent to listed Swedish real estate company Fastighets AB Balder (publ) for a purchase price of about EUR 235 million.

Varma halved its ownership in SATO in 2014, when Dutch pension investor APG became the first international shareholder of the company. During the current year, Balder has become SATO’s largest shareholder.

“SATO has been a very successful investment to Varma and it has become an interesting operator also in the eyes of international investors. Recently we have, however, increased the share of direct residential investments in our portfolio. We have several residential development projects ongoing in Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Tampere that will require significant capital investments”, says Varma’s CIO Reima Rytsölä.

Varma owns directly over 4 000 apartments and is the second largest shareholder in rental housing company VVO. Varma has currently rental apartments under construction for example in Arabianranta, Helsinki and Niittykumpu, Espoo. Additionally Varma has several projects either undergoing re-zoning to residential or about to be started. As a consequence of these projects our portfolio of directly owned rental apartments could increase by several hundred units during the coming years.

Additional information:
Senior Vice-President, Reima Rytsölä, tel. +358 50 048 2691
Leena Rantasalo, Communications Manager, tel. +358 50 300 7980