DailyTech - Technopolis Scoops up Nokia's Finnish Campus for $41.6M USD

Submit News

Gadgets Technopolis Scoops up Nokia's Finnish Campus for $41.6M USD
Jason Mick (Blog) - February 12, 2013 4:47 PM

5 comment(s) - last by mikeyD95125.. on Feb 14 at 4:35 AM

Tech park will support a number of incubator and startup projects

Nokia Oyj. (HEX:NOK1V) has gone through some hard times. Sales are down and layoffs abound. But the company is trimmer and hungrier, posting its first profit in quarters.

The company announced another positive step, reaching a deal to sell its Oulu, Finland Peltola campus. The campus will be purchased by Techpopolis Oyj. (FH:TPS1V), which owns several campuses in Finnish cities. Techpopolis will pay Nokia $42.6M USD (€31.7M) for the 37,600 sq. meter space, which includes an 800-car parking garage.

Techpopolis already owns a neighboring facility dubbed "Kontinkangas", which has roughly 27,000 sq. meters of space. The incubator effort rents space to various startups. Currently Kontinkangas houses a university, hospital, and other businesses. Techpopolis is renting to or in talks with 100 different firms looking to rent space at that campus. The company estimates that the campus will create 700 new high-tech jobs by 2016.

_{Oulu, Finland}

Despite selling the building, Nokia will maintain a major presence at the Peltola campus. It has signed a long-term lease for 17,400 sq. meters of space -- or roughly half the campus. Nokia, which is offering cash to its laid off engineers to help them start new companies, could find some of its former employees as co-leasees.

By selling and leasing its buildings Nokia builds its cash pile and potentially frees itself for a transition to the lucrative American and Chinese markets. Nokia works closely with Windows Phone partner Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), but likely any such distance corporate relationship, the lack of strong local presence has at times complicated matters.

Source: NASDAQ OMX