Finnish municipal pensions giant Keva has announced plans to invest €200m in warehouse and industrial production properties domestically, via a new company set up with local specialist property investment manager Aktiivitilat.
The €70bn pension fund, Finland’s largest, said the new company, Suomen Hallikiinteistöt Ky, will invest in the real estate segment in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and later possibly in Tampere and Turku.
Keva’s real estate investment director Carl-Henrik Roselius said: “Keva has already successfully invested in logistics properties in the past.
“Aktiivtilat’s expertise in this higher-yielding, but very labour-intensive segment of warehouses and production halls enables us to expand our investment horizon,” he said in yesterday’s announcement.
Aktiivtilat, which was established in 2019, said the new company was its third to invest in the real estate segment, following the first, Aktiivtilat Ky, which was sold last summer to an international investor and the second, Aktiivtilat II Ky, which was focusing on developing the properties it already owned.
Jukka Torvinen, chief executive officer of Aktiivtilat, said experiences with hall properties - large industrial buildings - had been very positive.
“Occupation rates have remained high and we are still able to find attractive investment targets,” he said.
“Energy renovations, the need for repairs, and short lease terms highlight the need for a specialised company such as ours,” Torvinen said.
“When you add Keva’s investment expertise to this, the joint venture is on a strong footing,” he said, adding that Finnish capital, an agile purchasing process, straightforward sales contracts and strong industry expertise would be strengths of the new venture.
Keva said the Suomen Hallikiinteistöt Ky’s first investments were now being reviewed, and it was seeking more investment targets.
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