Ilmarinen and AMF have named its new Helsinki property company, to be seeded with 15 office assets previously held by the Finnish pensions mutual.
AMF, the SEK111bn (€12bn) Swedish pension insurer, said the urbanisation of Finland was one of its reasons to work with Ilmarinen and launch Antilooppi – Finnish for ‘antelope’ – which will target the capital’s office market.
Tomi Aimonen, head of real estate at the €36.4bn pensions mutual, said it aimed to create an “active and responsible” company for the Helsinki office sector.
“There is plenty of room for a new company in the office sector, and we have an ambition to develop and grow the company over time,” said Aimonen.
He added: “The ambition is to grow Antilooppi significantly to become one of the largest property investment companies in Finland within the next five years.”
Martin Tufvesson, head of real estate asset management at AMF, said Helsinki would continue to “grow and benefit” from Finland’s increasing urbanisation, echoing his comments when the venture was first announced in May.
Antilooppi has been seeded with €400m worth of Helsinki property previously part of Ilmarinen’s €4.5bn property portfolio and has already hired three asset management staff.
The provider recently entered joint ventures that provide it access to the US housing market and Belgian office property as part of its push to diversify holdings.
The partnership between Ilmarinen and AMF comes only a few months after the providers agreed a €625m joint venture with Finnish retailer Kesko to manage and develop its stores.
