Barings Real Estate Advisers, formerly Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, has invested in Finland for a German pension fund.

The investment manager said the deal is the first foreign real estate investment by Barings for a German institutional client and the pension fund’s first property investment in Finland.

The empty office and retail K25 building in Helsinki was sold by an institutional investor advised by Finnish agency MREC.

The pension fund instructed Barings to carry out investment and portfolio management of European value-add investments last year, initially investing in Germany.

In November 2015, IPE Real Estate reported that Barings had been given a mandate by a German pension fund to invest in value-add real estate Europe.

A master fund has been set up for the German pension fund by Institutional Investment Partners.

Barings said it will pursue a “manage-to-core” strategy for the building with investment expected to total around €34m.

“The acquisition of K25 is a milestone – both for us and for our clients, for whom we facilitated entry to the Finnish market and even in the prime location in Helsinki’s small central business district,” said Barings’ Matthias Gerloff, director and head of institutional investment solutions.

“Often, not more than one property a year changes hands there.

“We will take advantage of all the potential for increasing the value of the property and will create a prime asset, both for the tenants and for a subsequent purchaser.”

The 4,800sqm asset, in the Helsinki central business district, includes around 3,600sqm of office and 900sqm of retail space.

The property was previously occupied by ministries and public authorities.

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