"We're in the melting pot," comments Knut Brundtland, chair of Norwegian Property. "We have a solid platform and ambitions to set a new standard for the commercial real estate sector in Norway.

    "We've sought a chief executive with broad experience and a good financial track record, and have found that person in Mr Jansen. I'm pleased that he is to become our president."

     "This company represents an innovation in the Norwegian market," says Mr Jansen. "Over the next few months, I'll build up a completely new organisation with the necessary expertise in the property business and with strategic and operational weight.

     "We'll also be assessing a number of potential transactions and preparing a listing on the stock exchange. I'm looking forward to continuing the company's development."

      Founded this spring, Norwegian Property has subsequently built up a solid portfolio of attractive commercial properties. Its goal is to take the lead in developing Norway's property sector.That will be achieved in part through cooperation with international capital markets, where the company has already received a good reception.

     Plans call for Norwegian Property to be developed into the largest and most liquid option for investors seeking exposure towards the market for commercial real estate in Norway. The company has purchased or contracted to buy 40 freeholds covering a total area of almost 505 000 square metres, with an average size of 12 600 square metres. 

     More than 99 per cent of this area is covered by leases, which run for an average remaining term of 7.8 years. With an overall value of roughly NOK 12.7 billion, the 40 properties will yield a gross rental income over the next four quarters of almost NOK 770 million.This portfolio has been acquired at an average implicit net yield after tax adjustments of approximately six per cent.

      Mr Jansen was until June 2006 the president and CEO of SAS Braathens, the Norwegian arm of the SAS airline. He was executive vice president responsible for private customers at Den norske Bank and a vice president of Postbanken in 1996-2004.Before becoming head of Oslo's former Fornebu airport in 1993-96, Mr Jansen held a number of senior posts in the Norwegian defence forces.A graduate of the Norwegian War College and the Army Staff College, he also studied at the War College in Östersund, Sweden, and at the Östersund Business College in 1986-88. He completed the senior executive programme at the London Business School in 2003.  

 

 

Knut Brundtland, chairman, Norwegian Property ASA, tel: +47 40 06 20 20