REAL ESTATE - French life insurance funds are among new investors in Euroffice fund, asset management firm IXIS AEW Europe said last week as it announced the fund’s first closure.

The Eurozone office real estate fund, which has capital of €172m and an initial investment capacity of €425m, targets French institutional investors looking to diversify outside their domestic market. It will invest 30—40% in Germany, the rest in France, northern Europe and southern Europe.

“We’re looking at the significant markets – Germany, Finland, Benelux and Spain – but we’re also interested in France,” said Jean Lavielle, director of funds at IXIS.

France has no pension funds equivalent to those elsewhere in Europe – outside small profession-specific ones. But Lavielle said insurance funds and the few “pension-style funds for special people” were attracted to the Euroffice fund because of the fund managers’ pan-European track record.

The firm manages or advises 12 European investment funds.