LaSalle Investment Management has bought a shopping centre in Melbourne for Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK).

The investment manager said it has bought the Summerhill Shopping Centre in the inner Melbourne suburb of Reservoir for the German pension fund for self-employed professionals.

Chris Forbes, LaSalle head of fund management in Australia, said: “This asset is an excellent long-term investment opportunity for the BVK mandate in Melbourne’s thriving northern growth corridor.”

Forbes said the 16,493sqm asset is supported by a “vast trade catchment area which is experiencing consistent growth and has an estimated population of 153,000”.

BVK awarded a €500m global real estate mandate to LaSalle in 2013. At the time, Norman Facklemann, BVK head of property investment management, said the mandate would complement its existing core portfolio and help diversify it further.

LaSalle last year bought a Chicago office property at 101 North Wacker Drive from Hines for BVK.