Finnair CEO Mika Vehviläinen continues to live in a central Helsinki residence that he sold to the pension insurance company Ilmarinen just over a year ago.
The rent for the apartment is picked up by the state-owned national carrier.
According to information obtained by Helsingin Sanomat, the apartment was put on the market in 2010 and was for sale for quite some time.
Despite the excellent location, the more than 270-square-metre flat did not sell easily, as Vehviläinen wanted to continue to stay in it as a tenant.
After a while, Finland’s second-largest pension insurance company Ilmarinen announced its willingness to purchase the property. Ilmarinen acquired ownership of the residence on February 10th 2011. Neither party is willing to disclose the purchase price.
Estimates by experts place the market value of the apartment at between 1.4 and 1.8 million euros.
At the moment the residence forms part of the collateral for the pension savings of the Finns in Ilmarinen’s real estate investment portfolio.
The connectionbetween Ilmarinen and Finnair is that Finnair is one of Ilmarinen’s largest clients. Ilmarinen is also the fourth-largest owner of Finnair.
Ilmarinen CEO Harri Sailas is the Chairman of Board at Finnair. He is also a member of the company’s Salary and Nomination Committee. Vehviläinen, in turn, has a seat on the Ilmarinen Board.
According to Ilmarinen, the transaction was a completely normal real estate investment.
