NEW YORK, NY, November 2, 2005 - Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) announced today that it provided financing to John Nurminen Oy, a 119-year-old Finnish company that provides logistics and related transport services to companies in Finland, Russia and the Baltic region, through the sale-leaseback of its two warehouse/logistics facilities located in the Port of Kotka, Finland.
W. P. Carey, on behalf of its affiliated income generating real estate fund Corporate Property Associates 16 – Global (CPA®:16 – Global), acquired the facilities which will be leased back under a 15-year triple-net lease.
This latest acquisition adds to W. P. Carey’s rapidly growing portfolio of managed properties throughout Europe and Asia consisting of more than 15 million square feet. Including this recent transaction, over the past ten months the W. P. Carey Group has invested approximately $436 million outside the United States including investments with: J McGavigan Limited (Scotland); Carrefour (France); Hellweg Die Profi-Baumärkte GmbH & Co. KG, (Germany); Integrated Distribution Systems (Thailand); Metokote Corporation (Canada and Mexico) and Pohjola Non-Life Insurance Company Ltd. (Finland). This represents an approximate $182 million increase in investment volume over the same period in 2004.
Edward V. LaPuma, President of W. P. Carey International LLC, said, “This sale-leaseback will enable John Nurminen to fund future growth initiatives and maintain its position as one of the leading logistics and transport service providers in the Baltic region. We are pleased to have completed this transaction as we continue to grow our portfolio of Finnish properties and look forward to serving John Nurminen’s future financing needs.”
Kenneth Huomo, Director of John Nurminen Oy said, “John Nurminen is going through an interesting stage of development, which means among other things acquisitions. By releasing capital tied up in the real estates, we create a possibility to be more aggressive in our operational development.”
JOHN NURMINEN
John Nurminen, a 119-year-old Finnish family-owned company, provides customer-driven logistics services based on the understanding of the customer’s operations and on specialized logistics expertise. The secret of its long life is the ability to respond to customer’s new challenges and changes in the business environment. www.johnnurminen.com/en/
W. P. CAREY & CO. LLC
Founded in 1973, W. P. Carey & Co. LLC specializes in helping companies and private equity firms realize the capital tied up in their real estate assets. Whether used for buyouts, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations or growth, net lease financing provides access to 100% of the real estate's value enabling companies to maintain complete operational control. Acting as principals in transactions from $5 million to $500 million, W. P. Carey and its affiliates have committed approximately $3 billion over the last three years and now manage more than $7.4 billion in assets. www.wpcarey.com/finance
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This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. A number of factors could cause the company’s actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those anticipated. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are the general economic climate; the supply of and demand for office and industrial properties; interest rate levels; the availability of financing; and other risks associated with the acquisition and ownership of properties, including risks that the tenants will not pay rent, or that costs may be greater than anticipated. For further information on factors that could impact the company, reference is made to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
