PFA, Denmark’s largest commercial pension fund, is adding a new direct investment to its real estate portfolio in the form of a 20,000sqm office building in one of Copenhagen’s northern suburbs.
The DKK538bn (€72.2bn) labour-market pension provider has bought the property, which is the headquarters of Danish mortgage lender BRFkredit, from the firm’s parent Jyske Bank for DKK640m.
Michael Bruhn, real estate director at PFA, said: “As part of our investment strategy for 2018, we are increasing our investments in commercial properties with unique locations and with a risk profile which combines stability with good options for creating value.”
Bruhn said the property would continue to function as the lender’s head office on a leasehold basis.
In January, PFA bought a large property to the south-east of Copenhagen’s city centre from industrial gases company AGA in another sale-and-leaseback deal, with plans to rebuild the site in five years’ time.
Jyske Bank is selling the property as the last in a portfolio of assets in good locations in the Copenhagen area which have been sold off over the last few years.
This sales strategy has been aimed at enabling the bank to focus on its core activities and reduce the amount of tied-up capital, the pension fund said.
