Espoo, Finland, 2013-02-12 11:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SRV GROUP PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 12 FEBRUARY 2012 AT 12:00
Through a purchase concluded today, SRV has acquired the 12.5 per cent holding of a Russian partner in the Septem City project. As a result of the purchase, SRV now owns one hundred per cent of the project. The decision to start the Okhta Mall shopping centre, which is the first phase of the Septem City project, is expected to be made during 2013. In December 2012, SRV strengthened its capital structure with a EUR 45 million hybrid bond, which also will boost the launch of the Okhta Mall project.
Okhta Mall is a 140 000 m2 shopping centre, incorporating around 75,000 m2 of leasable retail space and two underground parking levels. Preliminary lease agreements covering a total of over 25 per cent of the leasable floor area have already been agreed with anchor tenants.
“There is strong interest in the development of Russia’s retail trade. The leasing market in Russia operates on significantly higher price level than Western Europe and there is good investor demand for completed shopping centres,” says Veli-Matti Kullas, Vice President Project Development in Russia.
SRV is currently building in St. Petersburg the Pearl Plaza shopping centre, which will open in August 2013. SRV is responsible for developing, leasing and constructing the centre. SRV jointly owns the centre in a 50:50 partnership with Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation, and it has invested around EUR 20 million in the project. The Pearl Plaza shopping centre’s occupancy rate is already close to 70 per cent.
SRV has adopted a strategy in its Russian operations of focusing on the development, construction and leasing of shopping centres.
SRV Group Plc
Taneli Hassinen
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Tel. +358 40 504 3321
taneli.hassinen@srv.fi
Additional information:
Veli-Matti Kullas, Vice President, Project Development in Russia, tel. +358 (0) 40 501 5280