Castrén & Snellman are representing Helsinki-listed Sponda Plc in connection with the public tender offer of Polar Bidco S.à r.l., a corporation owned by funds advised by affiliates of The Blackstone Group L.P., to purchase all issued and outstanding shares in Sponda. In the tender offer, Sponda shareholders will be offered a cash consideration of EUR 5.19 for each share in Sponda representing an aggregate equity purchase price of approximately EUR 1,763 million for Sponda shares. The board of directors of Sponda has unanimously decided to recommend the shareholders of Sponda to accept the tender offer for their shares.
President and CEO of Sponda, Kari Inkinen, believes that with the support of Blackstone, Sponda will further develop their business, properties and portfolio. According to Inkinen, Sponda will continue to offer high-quality business premises and working environments to their customers.
Sponda is a property investment company specializing in commercial properties in the largest cities in Finland. Sponda's business concept is to own, lease and develop retail and office properties and shopping centers into environments that promote the business success of its clients.
As at March 31, 2017, the fair value of Sponda's investment properties was approximately EUR 3.8 billion and the leasable area was approximately 1.2 million square meters.
Blackstone has been a global leader in the real estate sector since 1991, and funds advised by affiliates of Blackstone have approximately USD 102 billion of real estate funds under management.
Since 2015, Blackstone has acquired control of over EUR 4 billion of properties in the Nordic region of which over EUR 1 billion is located in Finland.