Nordic Real Estate Partners (NREP) has hired Jens Petter Hagen from private equity firm Advent International to spearhead a move into the Norwegian market.

The real estate fund manager, which specialises in logistics and ‘neccessity’ retail in the Nordics, has opened an office in Oslo ahead of an extension of its activities into Norway.

NREP had been covering the Norwegian from its offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki, but the appointment of Hagen will be followed by the creation of a team in Oslo.

Hagen spent the previous nine years working in London for the global private equity firm Advent International, the last five years of which he focused on the Nordic markets.

Mikkel Bülow-Lehnsby, CEO of NREP, said: “With the local presence it will be easier for us to extend some of our existing niche strategies into the Norwegian market, which has long been an ambition.”

In May, NREP sold a €650m logistics portfolio to a consortium of Danish pension funds.