Year 2016

VVO Group’s gross investments totalled EUR 696.0 million. The year-on-year increase in gross investments was 196.2 per cent, or EUR 461.1 million. The fair value of investment properties at the end of the financial year was EUR 4.3 billion, including EUR 70.6 million classified into non-current assets held for sale. Turnover during the period 1 January–31 December 2016 amounted to EUR 351.5 million.

The financial occupancy rate remained high, standing at 97.4 per cent during the review period. There were 1,536 rental apartments under construction at the end of the review period. Of the apartments under construction, 1,220 are located in the Helsinki region and 316 in other Finnish growth centres. At the end of the financial year, VVO Group owned 34,974 rental apartments. The Lumo segment accounted for approximately 90 per cent of these apartments.

VVO Group underwent a major transformation during 2016. The strategic decision to focus, as a housing investment company, on market-based operations and rental housing service design was turned into concrete action in 2016: the Group made the largest investments in its history, totalling approximately EUR 700 million, and divested non-profit properties subject to long-term restrictions. Among other transactions, the Group acquired ICECAPITAL Housing Fund II, which owns 2,274 rental apartments. In order to restructure its operations, the Group sold 8,571 cost principle apartments to Kiinteistö Oy M2-Kodit, owned by Y-Foundation. After the review period, VVO Group sold 1,344 non-restricted rental apartments to a company managed by Avant Capital Partners. The apartments are located around Finland.

VVO Group diversified its financing sources in order to finance growth. VVO Group plc issued a EUR 200 million secured bond on 17 October 2016 and had it listed on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. In addition, the Group and the European Investment Bank agreed on EUR 170 million of long-term financing, which will be used to fund new net or nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEBs) over the next few years.