Norway's massive oil pension fund has pumped some €5 bn in European real estate since launching its investment drive in 2010.
Norway's massive oil pension fund has pumped some €5 bn in European real estate since launching its investment drive in 2010.
The mammoth Government Pension Fund Global captured the top spot in the PropertyEU ranking of Top Investors for 2012 with a total investment volume of €2.6 bn.
This represents a 200% jump, propelling the SWF 16 places from last year's ranking when it recorded €845 mln from two office sector transactions in Paris carried out with AXA Real Estate.
AXA Real Estate, which held the 1st place position in the previous ranking, moves to 8th place in the 2012 edition with a volume of €1.3 bn.
The Norwegian's largest transaction to date saw the €440 bn fund form a 50:50 joint venture with global distribution specialist Prologis. The joint venture was established in December 2012 to own assets previously held by Prologis' PEPR fund as well as some other Prologis properties.
The fund, which is run by Norges Bank Investment Management, also invested over €800 mln in a sale-and-leaseback with Credit Suisse in Zurich, and along with AXA Real Estate invested over €780 mln in Germany.
Data collated by PropertyEU Research indicates that the Norwegian fund has invested a total of €5 bn since its first joint venture on London's Regent Street with the Crown Estate in 2010.
The fund is seeking to have at least 5% of its assets in real estate within a few years. To date it has carried out transactions in London, Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt. The Prologis joint venture is Europe-wide.
The PropertyEU ranking of Top Investors in Europe is based on reported volumes and has been conducted since 2006.
A list of deals and articles on Norges (including subscriber-only content) are available below.
Starting in 2013 premium subscribers to PropertyEU receive regular updates on European real estate transaction activity via our Deal Watch newsletter.
More on subscriptions
