German pension fund BVK is to award three new mandates to invest in real estate in the Americas.

Norman Fackelmann, head of real estate investment management, told IPE Real Estate that “three further mandates for the US or the Americas” will be added to its real estate portfolio this year.

Specialised mandates are part of a new strategy for the €70bn BVK, which already has a number of global and regional real estate mandates in place.

BVK, which manages the portfolios of 12 Versorgungswerke in southern Germany, has global mandates with CBRE Global Investors, LaSalle Investment Management and UBS Global Asset Management. The capital for these is still being deployed.

Fackelmann said BVK is adding mandates and managers specialised in individual markets and sectors.

Last year, Alpha Investment Partners, CBRE Global Investors and Arch Capital were hired for specialised Asia mandates, while Hines has been hired to invest in European retail. Patrizia Immobilien, together with CapMan, is currently seeking residential properties in the Nordics.

“Investors have to diversify as much as possible and, for us, the size is a definite advantage as we can screen different markets at the same time,” Fackelmann said.

He added that BVK could be temporarily over-allocated in markets where it sees opportunities and where quick decisions on investments have to be made.

Overall, the real estate quota currently makes up around 14% of BVK’s total portfolio.

Fackelmann is confident the target allocation to real estate of 15% will “be achieved this year” but added that the BVK is “currently reviewing target allocations”.

In light of a changing market environment, Fackelmann said “this might mean we increase the target allocation to real estate”.

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