Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has further grown its logistics holdings after acquiring stakes in a €110m portfolio owned by Prologis.
The Government Pension Fund Global bought a 50%, €55.3m stake in an eight-strong portfolio spread across three cities in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary from Pologis, while also selling three properties in France previously acquired through its joint venture with the real estate developer.
Norges Bank Real Estate Management, the property arm of the NOK7.1trn (€788bn) oil fund, said the acquisition of the eight Central and Eastern European properties did not include debt financing.
It added that the joint venture could potentially more than double the portfolio’s usable space from its current 148,000sqm across properties in Wroclaw, Poland, and Prague and Budapest.
Separately, Norges sold its 50% stake in three French logistics properties acquired in 2013.
The deal, which completed at the end of last month, saw the properties in Paris, Blois and Cavaillon sold for more than €25m, equating to an overall asset value of €50.2m to its joint venture with Prologis.
Over the summer, Norges sold its stake in two US logistics properties for $90m (€81.6m), when Norges Bank Investment Management paid $2.3bn for a 45% stake in a logistics portfolio previously owned by KTP Capital.
The sovereign fund has also been struggling with market uncertainty in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, which triggered a unilateral writedown by Norges, despite the manager’s valuers not advising any change in the immediate aftermath of the referendum.
