Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Gothenburg

  • Castellum in real estate transaction with the City of Gothenburg

    Castellum in real estate transaction with the City of Gothenburg

    Castellum is selling a property to the city of Gothenburg in exchange for development rights in connection to Västlänken’s future Station Centralen.

    The municipality acquires the property Kobbegården 152:1 and Castellum is at the same time allocated land allotment for a building right of approximately 20-30,000 sq.m. BTA for office and retail space including one of the entrances from Västlänken’s future Station Centralen.

    The agreed purchase price for the property Kobbegården 152:1 amounts to SEK 23.5 million.

    ”I see it as a typical example of a win-win, a good deal for both parties. We get to contribute to urban development in the city center while also offering the city an important piece of the puzzle in southern Gothenburg”, comments Henrik Saxborn, CEO of Castellum AB.

  • Volvo Group Venture Capital invests in Adnavem

    Volvo Group Venture Capital invests in Adnavem

    Volvo Group Venture Capital invests in Adnavem, an online marketplace for freight services that offers unbundled door-to-door transport.

    Using Adnavem transport buyers can choose the service providers for each part of the logistics chain themselves.

    ”We are set to change the multimodal transport industry. We can help transport buyers to find the best transport chains and strike a good balance between price, speed and environmental impact,” says Andreas Wramsmyr, founder and CEO of Adnavem.

    Adnavem was founded in 2017 and is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

  • Castellum acquires five office properties in Kalasatama, Helsinki

    Castellum acquires five office properties in Kalasatama, Helsinki

    Through a company acquisition of the Finnish real estate group Lindström Invest, Castellum has acquired a real estate portfolio in Helsinki.

    The portfolio comprises five office properties with a total lettable area of approximately 36,000 sq.m.

    The acquisition price amounts to EUR 150 million, including overheads of EUR 7 million, of which EUR 81 million is paid as a share issue in kind and the remaining consists of takeover of debt.

    All properties are well located in Kalasatama, a former port area that the City of Helsinki is now developing into a district intended for 25,000 new residents and 10,000 new jobs. Kalasatama is located 2 km northeast of Helsinki CBD.

    The buildings contain high-quality office space and a conference center and Lindström Oy, Suomen Asiakastieto Oy, Nordic Morning Oy are its major tenants.

  • Klarna launches widget to track prices during holiday shopping season

    Klarna launches widget to track prices during holiday shopping season

    Klarna announced a new iOS price drop widget allowing consumers to stay on top of the latest deals and sales.

    Consumers will be able to receive real-time updates on price changes for their saved items by looking at the home screen on their smartphone.

    So, the widget rotates through a selection of shoppers’ most relevant items and saved products based on price updates.

    Available in three different sizes, the widget is a permanent extension of the Klarna app.

    The Klarna app will also provide trending Black Friday shopping deals from key merchants.

    Also, the new Deals section will provide users a dedicated space to search and browse a list of merchant discounts that are updated daily. 

  • Skanska signs an USD 198 M contract for office improvements in western USA

    Skanska signs an USD 198 M contract for office improvements in western USA

    Skanska has signed additional contracts with an existing client for improvements to their corporate office in the western USA.

    The contract is a joint venture with Skanska Balfour Beatty, and is worth USD 395 M.

    Skanska’s part is worth about USD 198 M, about SEK 1.7 billion, which will be included in the US order bookings for the fourth quarter of 2020.

    Construction is underway and is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

    Skanska USA had sales of SEK 74 billion and about 7,900 employees in its operations in 2019.

  • Swedbank signed a 734 sq m lease on the 45th floor at the Empire State Building

    Swedbank signed a 734 sq m lease on the 45th floor at the Empire State Building

    Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. announced today that Swedbank, a Stockholm-based banking group, signed a 7,905 sq ft. (734 sq m) lease on the 45th floor at the Empire State Building.

    Swedbank offers retail banking, asset management, financial and other services.

    Swedbank has 4.0 million private customers in Sweden and 3.25 million private customers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

    The bank has 268,000 corporate customers in Sweden and 276,000 corporate customers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

    Swedbank has 15,614 employees that work in 160 branches in Sweden and 92 branches in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

    Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area, including the Empire State Building, the ”World’s Most Famous Building.”

  • Scania net sales decreased by 22 percent in the first nine months of 2020

    Scania net sales decreased by 22 percent in the first nine months of 2020

    Scania net sales decreased by 22 percent to SEK 88,843 m. (113,815) in the period January-September 2020, the company reported today.

    Operating income decreased by 62 percent and amounted to SEK 5,249 m. (13,889).

    Scania cash flow amounted to SEK 3,358 m. (7,531) in Vehicles and Services.

    In the third quarter net sales decreased by 17 percent to SEK 30,374 m. (36,544) and operating income by 45 percent to SEK 2,436 m. (4,445).

  • First second-hand IKEA store opens in Eskilstuna, Sweden

    First second-hand IKEA store opens in Eskilstuna, Sweden

    IKEA opened its first second-hand store in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The store is located in the ReTuna Shopping Centre and all products sold are reused or recycled.

    The new store that will be open initially for 6 months, is run by the existing IKEA Västerås store that will provide furniture and home furnishing accessories that for different reasons have been damaged.

    At ReTuna they will be repaired and given a second chance.

    The collaboration with ReTuna will help IKEA understand why some IKEA products are turned into waste, what condition they are in when thrown away, why do people choose to donate or recycle products, and if there’s an interest in buying the products that have been repaired.

  • 100 million people joined H&M Member loyalty program

    100 million people joined H&M Member loyalty program

    H&M announced that more than 100 million fashion fans have joined the customer loyalty program H&M Member.

    H&M Members are invited to offers and services, digital and physical events, fashion shows, pre-shopping, collaborations, digital receipts, omni-credit and much more.

    The loyalty program is entirely digital and free to use.

    H&M Member currently covers 26 markets after recent rollouts in India, South Korea and Australia.

    The company also introduced the membership on Wechat and Tmall in China, and now Kakao in Korea.

  • Volvo Trucks to launch a complete range of electric trucks in 2021

    Volvo Trucks to launch a complete range of electric trucks in 2021

    Volvo Trucks will offer a complete heavy-duty range with electric drivelines starting in Europe in 2021.

    The company is running tests of the electric heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks, which will be used for regional transport and urban construction operations in Europe.

    These trucks will have a gross combination weight of up to 44 tonnes. Depending on the battery configuration the range could be up to 300 km.

    Sales will begin next year and volume production will start in 2022.

    Volvo Trucks started manufacturing the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric in 2019. These are electric trucks intended for city distribution and refuse operations, primarily in Europe.

    In North America, sales of the Volvo VNR Electric, a truck for regional transport, will start on December 3, 2020.

  • Ericsson completes acquisition of Cradlepoint

    Ericsson completes acquisition of Cradlepoint

    Ericsson has completed thw acquisition of Cradlepoint, the US-based market leader in Wireless WAN Edge 4G and 5G solutions for the enterprise market.

    The investment is key to Ericsson’s ongoing strategy of capturing market share in the rapidly expanding 5G enterprise space.

    Closing of the acquisition follows the announcement on September 18, 2020 of Ericsson’s intention to acquire Cradlepoint. At closing, a consideration of around USD 1 b. was paid using Ericsson’s cash-in-hand.

    Cradlepoint’s sales for 2019 were SEK 1.2 b. with a gross margin of 61%.

    Ericsson’s operating margins are expected to be negatively impacted by approximately 1% in 2021 and 2022 – where half is related to amortization of intangible assets arising from the acquisition.

    Cradlepoint is expected to contribute to operating cash-flow starting in 2022.

    Through Cradlepoint’s solutions, companies can connect sites, vehicles, mobile workforces, and IoT devices in a simple and secure way using cellular technology.

    Cradlepoint will operate as a stand-alone subsidiary within Ericsson and continue to build on the current market momentum as 5G is speeding up digital transformation and increasing the need for advanced connectivity services for enterprises.

    Cradlepoint will continue to be headquartered in Boise, Idaho, USA. In addition to the company headquarters, Cradlepoint operates a research and development center in Silicon Valley, California, and international offices in the United Kingdom and Australia.

  • Volvo and Isuzu to start a strategic alliance within commercial vehicles

    Volvo and Isuzu to start a strategic alliance within commercial vehicles

    The Volvo Group and Isuzu Motors signed binding agreements to form a strategic alliance within commercial vehicles, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2019.

    The agreements include Isuzu Motor’s acquisition of UD Trucks from the Volvo Group for an enterprise value of JPY 243 billion (approx. SEK 20 billion).

    The parties intend to form a technology partnership, intended to leverage the parties’ complementary areas of expertise within both well-known and new technologies and creating a larger volume base to support investments for world-class technology.

    The technology partnership encompasses: 

    • Joint development by Isuzu Motors and UD Trucks of common platforms for medium heavy-duty truck models for the Japanese- and other Asian markets, utilizing amongst others Volvo Group technology. 
    • Intended cooperation regarding new technologies such as autonomous driving, connectivity and medium- and heavy-duty electrical vehicles.
    • Creating the best long-term conditions for a stronger heavy-duty truck business for UD Trucks and Isuzu Motors in Japan and across international markets by transferring ownership of the complete UD Trucks business from the Volvo Group to Isuzu Motors

    The Volvo Group and Isuzu Motors will establish a Joint Alliance Office, with facilities both in Japan and Sweden, which will be overseen by an Alliance Board comprising the Isuzu Motors President, the Volvo Group CEO and other key executives from the two groups.