Sponda may sell Finnish assets for Russia investment

MOSCOW, July 8 (Reuters) - Finnish property firm Sponda (SDA1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it had acquired an office property in central Moscow for $185 million and was ready to sell some of its assets in Finland to finance its Russian growth.

Sponda said in a statement it had bought the Ducat II office property which is fully leased and has about 14,300 square metres of A-class office premises, 1,300 sq m of retail property and parking for 143 vehicles.

"The purchase will be financed by unused credit facilities agreed in March 2008. Sponda aims to finance the company's growth in Russia by selling some of its property in Finland," the company said in a statement.

The company, seeking to capitalise on a severe shortage of high quality office space in Moscow, did not say in what other Russian property it planned to invest.

While real estate firms from Europe to Asia have seen their profits hit by the global credit crisis, Russian developers have escaped relatively unhurt as their turnover depend little on mortgages. (Writing by Olga Borodina; Editing by David Cowell)