The manager of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has created two new chief investment officer roles for real estate in Europe and the US.
Norges Bank Real Estate Management (NBREM), which manages the NOK7.7trn (€829bn) Government Pension Fund Global, has promoted Per Løken and Romain Veber to oversee real estate investments in the two markets.
Løken, who joined Norges Bank Investment Management in 2011 and has mainly focused on UK real estate, will become CIO for the US.
Veber, who also joined in 2011 and headed up the fund’s activities Paris, has become CIO for Europe.
The appointments reflect the sovereign wealth fund’s increased exposure to US real estate, which has become more proportional to its European investments.
The fund built up its European real estate investment up before it entered the US. Its debut investment was in 2010 in London, followed by a range of European investments. It began investing in the US three years later.
By the end of 2016, the fund had a similar amount of investments – approximately $10bn (€8.4bn) – in both in North America and Europe.
Karsten Kallevig, NBREM’s chief executive, said: “We are happy that Per and Romain are taking on these positions. They bring both experience and continuation to our investment efforts.”
