PenSam confirmed today that it has bought an 18,824sqm residential building from Nordic real estate firm Alma Property Partners and Danish developer AG Gruppen – a day after the announcement of a similar-sized residential investment for the pension fund in a different Copenhagen suburb.
Alma Property Partners said it sold Lyskilden, the 231-apartment building in Herlev in greater Copenhagen, that it has been building in partnership with AG Gruppen since 2020, to PenSam.
The property was one of the first residential development projects in the Marienlund area in Herlev which, Alma said, is changing to a mixed-use district, supported by major infrastructure investments such as a new light rail station.
The sellers said they had decided to sell the property, having let it at the end of 2022 and subsequently stabilised operations, and that the transaction with PenSam was completed on 20 December last year.
Yesterday, European residential firm Heimstaden Bostad announced it had sold the 20,000sqm property Kamilliehuset in the Copenhagen suburb of Rødovre to PenSam in late December 2024.
Jeppe Starup, PenSam’s head of private capital and real assets, told IPE Real Assets today that the pension fund – which had total assets of DKK185bn (€24.8bn) at the end of 2023 – was aiming to boost its residential allocation, although PenSam was not increasing its overall percentage allocation to real estate, he said.
However, he added: “PenSam’s AUM is increasing due to a net positive capital flow from our members, and the current target allocation as a percentage of the overall portfolio to real estate still has room for more investments.”
Within this, investment in homes was a particular focus for the pension fund, according to Starup.
“We are looking to increase our allocation to residential in the Danish market due to the overall trend of urbanisation, increasing demand from tenants in the greater Copenhagen area, and more favourable market conditions,” he said.
PenSam’s current allocation to real estate is about 9% across all segments of its membership, with that allocation standing at 10% for its Fleksion pension product, to which savings from all new members are allocated.
The split between residential and commercial is about 50/50, Starup said.
“After a couple of quiet years in the real estate market, we have seen a downwards adjustment of prices/price expectations, and with the lower interest rates, real estate in Denmark, including residential, is attractive again,” he said.
Starup said PenSam is also seeing opportunities in other real assets sectors, and mentioned the collaboration the pension fund initiated last autumn with Cromwell/Stoneweg regarding logistics.
PenSam declined to disclose how much it paid for either of the latest two residential investments.
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