Denmark’s PFA, the country’s largest commercial pensions provider, has bought a retail property in central Madrid’s Gran Via 30 as part of its strategy to step up real estate investments abroad and also on a direct basis.
Michael Bruhn, director of real estate at PFA, said: “This is a very exciting property with a mix of uses, which play to the international mega trends such as urbanisation.”
The deal’s value was not disclosed, though PFA said the investment cost more than DKK100m (€13.4m).
Bruhn described the investment as opportunistic, and said there were very good options for optimising the asset further.
He said PFA expected to get a good return for its customers by realising this potential.
On top of this, Bruhn said the investment would have the benefit of giving PFA experience of operating in a real estate market in a growth phase.
PFA said its investment in the asset was part of the strategy it announced this spring to increase its foreign real estate investments significantly between now and 2022.
Its huge DKK6.6bn investment last month in German residential real estate was part of this strategy, PFA said.
The Madrid deal also supported the pension provider’s real estate strategy of boosting the volume of direct investments in its portfolio, the firm said.
Located on one of Madrid’s main shopping streets, the property — which has around 4,800sqm of space — was currently used for shops on the ground and first floors as well as the basement, while the other nine floors would now be repositioned, PFA said.
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