Daniel Harris, Managing Director for the Nordic and CEE Regions at Tristan Capital Partners, said: “The retail sector is enjoying a period of sustained growth as a result of the robust performance of the Swedish economy. The acquisition of this portfolio of local convenience shopping centres, primarily located in Stockholm, offers a strong platform to benefit the increasing buying power of the Swedish consumer.”
 
Sweden’s economy is forecast to grow by 4.0% this year after expanding 4.1% in 2015, with household consumption rising on average by 2.0% in each of the last five years. The purchase of the portfolio is the second investment by a Tristan fund in the Swedish market and is being undertaken with a new operating partner, the experienced local retail developer and asset manager Elisby Fastigheter, headed by Magnus Lofgren.
 
The four shopping centres and the retail park acquired by the EPISO 4 fund include:
# Viksjo Centrum, Stockholm (11,600 sqm lettable area, 29% of portfolio rental income). This asset, located in the centre of a middle class suburb, is currently undergoing modernisation, including a 1,700 sqm extension that will bring its total size to about 11,600 sqm. The shopping centre serves the neighbourhood of Viksjo, which has c.15,000 inhabitants and is expanding, having grown by 5% between 2011 and 2014.
 
# Ekero Centrum, Stockholm (11,000 sqm lettable area, 28% of income). The asset is the only commercial centre on the island of Ekero and is in a middle class suburb with high incomes, low unemployment and consistent population growth of 3.6% a year.
 
# Salem Centrum, Stockholm (6,250 sqm lettable area, 9% of income, leasehold). The asset is located in a neighbourhood with income slightly above the national average, which is experiencing a high influx of Swedish domestic urban migrants.
 
# Rondellen, Stockholm (4,700 sqm lettable area, 9% of income). This is a small but strategically located asset in Upplands Vasby, 26 km north of Stockholm.
 
# Östersund (26,700 sqm lettable area). This retail park is located in Östersund, Northern Sweden; a growing city (3.5% p.a.) with a population of 45,000. The park comprises several large retail warehouses that have all recently been rebuilt and renovated and is part of a regeneration area that once completed, will have 900 new households to increase footfall.
 
Advising EPISO 4 on the transaction were Linklaters and Custor Capital.

Cushman & Wakefield and MAQS was Aberdeen´s advisors.