NORDIC REGION - Aberdeen has raised €125m in the fourth closing of Aberdeen’s €370m pan-Nordic real estate SICAV as UK, French and Scandinavian pension funds see Nordic economies outstripping those in Western Europe.
Ubbe Strihagen, international director with the fund manager, said the combination of a desire for diversification and strong macro fundamentals continued to boost interest in Nordic property markets.
"French investors aren’t up to speed with the Dutch in terms of international diversification, but they recognise that the Nordic markets are far enough away not to be in the same market cycle," he said.
UK pension funds facing a slowdown in much of their domestic market are likewise targeting both mature European and Scandinavian markets, he continued.
Strihagen also told IPE Real Estate last week Aberdeen is about to make further acquisitions for a bespoke opportunistic fund, set up to allow three pension funds to invest in Finnish real estate.
Ilmarinen, the Finnish €21.6bn multi-employer pension scheme, Dutch pension fund ABP and Denmark’s €49.6bn ATP fund, set up the fund at the beginning of the year with a target size of €500m.
Ilmarinen provided the fund’s first acquisition – a €280m portfolio of 47 commercial properties. Strihagen last week ruled out the participation of investors other than the founders, saying the three existing participants would contribute additional capital for acquisitions.
"It was a closed club deal," said Strihagen. "The investors don’t want to let anyone else in."