Denmark’s Industriens Pension announced it has joined forces with mutual pension provider Velliv to buy a residential portfolio in Copenhagen and Aarhus from Danish real estate investment company NREP, in a DKK2bn (€269m) deal.
The pension funds said the investment encompassed 50,000sqm of space, comprising 521 homes and “a small number” of business units, with the newly-built properties located in Copenhagen’s Amager and Ørestad districts as well as Risskov in northern Aarhus.
Søren Tang Kristensen, Industriens Pension’s real estate CIO, said: “It is rare that we see housing portfolios of this quality and location in the market, so we are very pleased that we have succeeded in completing the investment.”
Jakob Flymer, investment director at NREP, said his firm normally preferred to own its properties for a longer period before selling, but in this case the three buildings were a part of the firm’s NSF1 fund, which it was working to wind up.
Tang Kristensen said the housing projects contributed to good development of their local areas, and that the pension fund expected them to provide solid long-term returns for its members.
Industriens Pension said the properties were expected to be sustainability certified according to the German Sustainable Building Council’s (DGNB) standard.
Solveig Rannje, head of real estate at Velliv, said: “We are pleased with the agreement, which supports our strategy of investing in new homes in and around the largest cities with growth, including, of course, Copenhagen and Aarhus.”
Rannje told IPE Real Assets last week that Velliv was implementing a new real estate strategy that would give residential and newer properties more weight in its DKK255bn portfolio.
The strategy, which was put in place earlier this year following her arrival at the pension provider in October last year, is aimed at making the real estate portfolio “future-proof”, and includes more focus on new or newer properties.
Bruun & Hjejle, Gorrissen Federspiel, Red Cushman & Wakefield, Deloitte and Kuben Management advised Velliv and Industriens Pensions in the deal, while NREP was advised by Nordanö, Accura and PwC, the parties said.
