CapMan Real Estate press release
14 December 2022 at 14:00 EET
CapMan Real Estate promotes Thomas Laakso as Partner and fund director for the Hotels fund
Thomas Laakso, Investment Director at CapMan Real Estate, has been promoted Partner. Simultaneously, he takes over leadership of the CapMan Hotels II fund from Pirjo Ojanperä, who transitioned to a Senior Advisor role in December after a long career at CapMan.
CapMan Hotels II fund is one of the largest owners of hotel properties in the Nordics. Mr. Laakso, who has extensive experience from hotel operations, development, consulting and asset management across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the USA, started working with CapMan’s Hotels investment strategy one year ago with the ambition to expand and internationalise its operations.
“I’m very excited with the direction for the Hotels strategy under Thomas’ leadership. His background and expertise will help realize the fund’s Northern European focus for fundraising and deal flow. I also want to thank Pirjo for her outstanding work with managing the current hotel asset portfolio and her extensive career at CapMan,” says Mika Matikainen, Managing Partner of CapMan Real Estate.
“I appreciate the trust and am particularly grateful for Pirjo Ojanperä for all she has done for the fund and for me personally. This is an exciting time for the hotel fund. The speed of the hotel industry’s post-Covid recovery has exceeded everyone’s expectations and the long-term fundamentals are sound. With some repricing pressure in the market, we see interesting acquisition opportunities going forward,” says Thomas Laakso, Partner, CapMan Real Estate.
“I’m grateful for the long journey together with CapMan and its knowledgeable real estate team and stakeholders over the years. Together, we have served and advanced the hospitality market. In Thomas, the fund now has a very qualified new leader and I want to warmly welcome him as he continues our development efforts which I will continue to support as Senior Advisor,” says Pirjo Ojanperä, Senior Advisor at CapMan Real Estate.
CapMan Hotels II fund is a semi-open-ended fund with an evergreen structure and a continuous term. It invests in hotel properties generating a stable and predictable income. The current portfolio consists of 27 assets across Finland and Sweden with multiple leading operators as tenants and a weighted average lease term (WALT) of 25 years based on 100% index linked leases. The fund has €368 million in equity commitments and the open-ended structure of the fund allows for growth through new capital and portfolio expansion. The attractive structure combined with the existing strong portfolio create an excellent foundation for future growth. The fund is classified as Article 8 under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
CapMan’s Real Estate team comprises 65 real estate professionals in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Jyväskylä and London. CapMan Real Estate currently manages over €4.0 billion in real estate assets.
For more information, please contact:
Mika Matikainen, Managing Partner, CapMan Real Estate, +358 40 519 0707
About CapMan
CapMan is a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value creation. We offer a wide selection of investment products and services. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers, we have developed hundreds of companies and real estate assets and created substantial value in these businesses and assets over the past 30 years. With approx. €5 billion in assets under management, our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. We have a broad presence in the unlisted market through our local and specialised teams. Our investment strategies cover Private Equity, Real Estate and Infra. We also have a growing service business that includes procurement services, wealth management, and analysis, reporting and back office services. Altogether, CapMan employs around 180 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, London, Jyväskylä and Luxembourg. We are a public company listed on Nasdaq Helsinki since 2001 and a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) since 2012. Read more at www.capman.com.
