Pension funds and insurers including Fennia, Vertias and Assai Oy are to invest in a Finnish logistics fund with real estate firm Sponda.
The fund will invest in logistics across the funds’ domestic market in areas such as Vantaa, Turku, Tampere and Nastola. Sponda, which will contribute 47% to the fund at launch, will manage both the fund and its properties.
Fennia real estate investment director Timo Stenius said the fund offered an alternative vehicle to direct investment.
“It gives us exposure to more properties. It’s also a way of gathering more specialist management skills,” he said.
“We can’t be specialists in every field. Sponda can manage the investments better than we can ourselves.”
The fund launches with 20 investments and an eventual target of between 30—60 “widely diversified” properties.
The institutional investors in the fund are insurance subsidiaries of Fennia, Veritas, Assai Oy and Etera.
In a separate development, Sponda last week acquired an office and warehouse property in Espoo for €4m, and a logistics and retail property in Helsinki for €2.4m.
