Helsinki-based investment bank SEB Enskilda Corporate Finance said on Wednesday that it is creating a new business unit focused on real estate advisory. The company has appointed Juho Puhakainen as head of Real Estate, responsible for establishing the new business by September.

The new unit will offer tailor made investment banking services to real estate investors and corporate real estate owners in Finland. Services will include divestments and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, capital market transactions and securitisations, valuations of real estate investment companies and real estate portfolios as well as financial advisory in connection with corporate real estate strategies.

Puhakainen joins SEB Enskilda from the European Investment Bank where he worked on property and infrastructure financing. Puhakainen has also extensive experience in the Finnish real estate market having previously worked for the leading financial advisors in the real estate sector active in the country.

'SEB Enskilda Corporate Finance and SEB Commercial Real Estate, which is the leading financier of commercial real estate in the Nordic region, will work tightly together in order to offer their clients new opportunities in the Finnish real estate market,' the company said in a statement.

'By providing our clients outstanding service and combining our financial advisory with SEB's strengths in commercial real estate financing and capital market services, we shall establish SEB Enskilda as a prominent financial advisor in the Finnish real estate market,' said Puhakainen.

SEB Enskilda is the investment banking arm of the SEB Group, a leading wholesale bank in Northern Europe.