Pensioenfonds Detailhandel, the €12bn pension fund for the Dutch retail sector, is transforming its €621m real estate portfolio, by focusing on listed investments and private funds.
It has been divesting most of its direct real estate holdings through sale or swaps for private funds, according to Henk Groot, the scheme’s head of investments.
Last year, Detailhandel transferred the management of its €400m direct real estate from Syntrus Achmea Real Estate to DTZ Zadelhoff.
Since then, the property manager has divested all of its directly held residential and retail assets, €150m of which through swaps, said Groot. Only the pension fund’s office holdings are still on the books.
Groot declined to provide further details about the office portfolio, “as Detailhandel was in the final stage of a transaction”.
Part of the new strategy is the construction of a new €100m portfolio of international listed property investments managed passively.
Groot said Pensioenfonds Detailhandel had completed 95% of the planned transformation of the portfolio, which is intended to be evenly divided between listed property and private real estate funds.
The pension fund has an allocation to real estate of 4.9%. It reported a 6.2% loss on its real estate holdings during 2013.
