Denmark’s AP Pension has entered a 50-50 joint venture with German property manager KanAm Grund Group, which is buying half of a large office project in Copenhagen’s Nordhavn district on behalf of a North German pension fund.

According to KanAm Grund, it is buying into AP Pension’s Svanemølleholmen project in Copenhagen – land previously known as Holm 8 – via a new joint venture for a special institutional real estate fund it manages for the unnamed pension fund.

KanAm said the parties agreed not to disclose the price; however, IPE Real Assets understands the deal values the entire project at about €500m.

In the statement, KanAm said the Nordhavn area of the Danish capital was attractive for many international tenants due to its proximity to the water.

“This is particularly evident from the large number of well-known companies located there such as BlackRock, SAP, PFA Pension, Accura, Kromann Reumert, and Cisco Systems, the company said, adding that the United Nations and the German Embassy had also chosen the location.

The property will serve as the new headquarters for Nykredit and AP Pension, it said.

The development, which is due for completion in 2024 had 75,000sqm of space between three buildings, KanAm said, adding that it was anticipated it would gain gold DNGB environmental certification.

AP Pension was not available for comment, but in 2019 the pension fund announced it had been picked by Nykredit to establish the bank’s new headquarters in Nordhavn, and that the pension provider also planned to set up a new head office for itself there.

At the time, AP Pension said the plan was that Nykredit’s headquarters – at Sundkrogsgade in Svanemøllehavn – would have 28,000sqm of space housing 1,650 employees, and that the new headquarters for AP Pension would accommodate around 500 employees.

AP Pension said it had grown out of its current offices following the acquisition of Skandia Denmark, and that the new premises would allow it to bring together staff currently located in three properties near Copenhagen’s waterfront.

KanAm Grund said the central Paris Haussmann-style building it bought in the Rue Marbeuf, not far from the Champs-Elysées, in June had been for the same North German pension fund.

The Paris property is to be renovated for the investor, and repositioned as an office property with retail space, KanAm Grund said.

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