Smedvig Capital, the London-based venture capital firm, has sold Swedish self storage company Selstor to Pelican Self Storage, another significant self storage player, operating in Copenhagen and Helsinki.
Established in 2009, Pelican Self Storage is focused on the development, redevelopment, acquisition and operation of self storage facilities in Scandinavia.
Selstor was founded in 2006 by Michael Fogelberg to take advantage of the under-penetrated Swedish self storage market. Smedvig Capital first invested in Selstor in 2008 and has been closely involved in the business, working extensively with management in a variety of areas. This included structuring the ongoing financing for the business through the challenged debt market that followed the financial crisis of 2008. The business built a strong pipeline during this period and today has eight, soon to be 10, sites located across Sweden.
Selstor and Pelican are backed by US real estate investment and advisory firm M3 Capital Partners. The combined entity seeks to create a leading pan-Scandinavian self storage company and enjoys many synergies across its existing operations.
Johnny Hewett, chief executive of Smedvig Capital, says: “We are pleased with the outcome of this exit which delivered attractive IRRs and a substantial capital gain; even more so when achieved through such troubled capital markets. Whilst our intention was a longer term hold, it was immediately clear when we were first approached, that Pelican was a strong partner for Selstor. They can now use their combined strength to expand the business into the wider Scandinavian market.”
