W.P. Carey Completes Acquisition of Class A HQ Property in Oil-Driven Norwegian Market

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

Stavanger, Norway—Global REIT W.P. Carey Inc. recently announced the acquisition of an office asset in the fastest growing market in Southern Norway. The company specializes in corporate sale-leaseback, build-to-suit financing and the acquisition of single-tenant net-lease properties, a strategy it respected with the acquisition of the headquarters of Apply AS in the city of Stavanger. Two of the REITs that the entity manages, namely CPA:17—Global and CPA:18—Global completed the purchase of the asset in a deal worth around NOK 662 million (roughly $100 million).

Apply AS is a local oil and gas industry topside engineering and services company, and its location in the city of Stavanger, the current core of Norway’s oil-based economy, means that the company is thriving. The entity occupies 100 percent of the available space at the building that was completed in January 2014. Developed by Scandinavian company Skanska, the Class A property is currently the object of a triple-net lease that has around 14 years remaining. The property is located in Forus, the fastest growing submarket in the city and the epicenter of the oil market. Stavanger is currently regarded as the oil capital of Europe, the driving engine for Norway’s hugely improved economy. Norway is currently AAA rated by Moody’s and AAA by Standard & Poor’s, a testament to the strength of the economy in the current European landscape. The country currently controls one of the largest sovereign wealth funds totaling approximately $952 billion.

According to the director of W.P. Carey, Arvi Luorna, the purchase of the property is the company’s third endeavor in the Norwegian market in 2014, with CPA:18 – Global’s acquisition of the Oslo HQ of Siemens, and W.P. Carey’s purchase of French oil major Total’s Norwegian HQ, also located in Stavanger.

Egil Stokka, senior partner of HitecVision, the company that currently owns the controlling stake in Apply AS, says that the transaction would allow the company to release capital for other ventures.