AMF is buying a stake in Oslo commercial real estate company Areal from Norwegian insurer Gjensidige.

The Swedish pension fund has agreed to pay SEK3.3bn (€351m) for the 50% holding.

Gjensidige remains half owner of the company, which holds 250,000sqm of commercial real estate in Norway.

AMF will use Areal for future Norwegian real estate investments.

The fund, which invests in domestic real estate through its AMF Fastigheter and Rikshem subsidiaries, has been evaluating several possibilities for diversification in markets outside Sweden.

In Finland, AMF continued to diversify into real estate earlier this year by partnering with local insurer Ilmarinen, which sold a 50% stake in a SEK4bn portfolio of office buildings in Helsinki to AMF.

The deal followed the announcement of a €652m joint venture between AMF and Ilmarinen to invest in Finnish retail assets.