Telenor Eiendom Sells Development Site to Aker

FORNEBU, NORWAY-Telenor Eiendom Holding, the real estate arm of locally headquartered Norway telecommunications giant Telenor, has sold a 5.7-acre development site immediately south of its headquarters for $22.98 million (150 million Kronor). The new owner is Norway industrial powerhouse Aker, which is based in nearby Oslo and will build a new headquarters building on the site.The site was sold with an approved and designed project. Construction will start immediately. The new building should be ready for occupancy sometime in 2007. The size of the building to be built was not immediately available.Aker has 40,000 employees and $5.6 billion (50 billion Kronor) in annual revenue. Its core businesses are Aker Kværner, Aker Yards, Norway Seafoods and Aker Material Handling. At its annual meeting in March, Aker acknowledged it was planning to build a new joint headquarters for the activities of the Aker Group in the Oslo area. The company says a wholly owned subsidiary of Aker will own the site, construct the building and then rent office space to the individual companies in the Aker group. Telenor Eiendom Holding manages more than 10.7 million sf of owned and leased Telenor floor space spread out over approximately 4,500 buildings. The company’s main task is to ensure that the Telenor Group has at its disposal sufficient premises for its operations.