SWEDEN - Sveafastigheter, the Stockholm-based private equity real estate fund manager, has made a second closing on its new Nordic opportunistic fund.

Sveafastigheter Fund III has now raised €120m from Swedish and global institutional investors to invest in Nordic real estate markets, and it is confident it will reach its target of €300-400m before the end of the year.

Simon de Château, chief executive at Sveafastigheter, said: "Over the last few months, the real estate markets in the Nordic region have shown clear signs of a return to liquidity, and we are building a pipeline of attractive opportunities and expect to close a first transaction shortly."

The fund follows previous vehicles launched in 2003 and 2006, respectively, allowing Sveafastigheter to undertake a series of real estate transactions in the Nordic region with a combined value of more than €2bn.

Sveafastigheter Fund III will focus primarily on investments in Sweden and Finland, with a secondary focus on acquisitions in Norway and Denmark. The fund can invest a limited part of its equity in the Baltic States.

De Château added: "The ongoing yield adjustment and large volumes of senior financing maturing and needing to be refinanced in coming years are likely to provide very attractive acquisition opportunities compared with what has been the case in the last few years.

"Our tried and tested model of working closely with local asset management partners will also allow us to source assets that are not in the public domain and continue to create value during our holding period rather than just expecting to ride the yield curve."

The latest capital raising for Sveafastigheter follows shortly after Aberdeen Property Investors raised €127m in new capital for a number of its Nordic funds.