Kesko gains €63 million on real estate sale

The Kesko Group has today sold 13 retail store properties in different parts of Finland to Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company. The debt-free selling price of the properties is €156 million. The Kesko Group's gain on the sale is €63 million, which will be treated as a non-recurring item in Kesko's fourth quarter operating profit. In the same connection, Kesko Pension Fund has sold one property owned by it.

All of the above properties have been leased back for use by Kesko's division parent companies under 5-15-year leases with extension options. The lease liability for the real estate sold by the Kesko Group totals €142 million, not classified as a finance lease.

Out of the 13 Kesko Group's properties included in the sale, eight are used by K-food store chains, three by K-rauta, one by the Anttila department store chain and one by VV-Auto. The transaction does not involve changes to the stores' operations. The total area of the properties sold by the Kesko Group is 111,000 m².

At 31 December 2008, Kesko owned 1.0 million m² of properties and had 2.9 million m² of properties on leasehold in Finland and other Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and Russia. Kesko's store site investments were €279 million in 2008.

Further information:
Arja Talma, Senior Vice President, CFO, Kesko Corporation, tel. +358 1053 22113
Jukka Erlund, Vice President, Corporate Controller, Kesko Corporation, tel. +358 1053 22338

Kesko Corporation

Paavo Moilanen
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Responsibility

DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Main news media
www.kesko.fi