ESG-focused real estate investor Nrep has acquired a majority stake (51%) in Klövern, a Swedish residential developer owned by Corem Property Group, ALM Equity and Broskeppet Bostad.
For Nrep, the deal represents an opportunity to invest in a successful residential player with over 20,000 building rights in prime locations, primarily in the urbanised areas of Stockholm and the Mälardalen region.
Around 90% of homes will be located less than 30 minutes from the central business district of each city by public transport. Nrep has allocated approximately €500 mln for the deal, of which approximately €250 – 340 mln will be raised through new share issues.
The investment will enable Klövern to reinforce the company’s position as a leading player in Sweden’s housing market. Nrep's aim is to capitalise the development of the company's building rights through new share issues, thereby increasing the pace of construction to reach approximately 2,000 – 3,000 homes per year.
Rune Kock, CEO of Nrep said: 'Sweden has an increasing population growth, and this acquisition enables us to meaningfully contribute to the supply-demand gap of housing, whilst growing our portfolio in collaboration with mission-aligned partners.
'Klövern has a strong residential portfolio which, in combination with our strategy and ambition in the residential segment, has great potential for development.
'Together with Klövern's existing owners, we look forward to nurturing and expanding the company - already this year, we intend to start production of about 800 apartments and thus addressing housing shortages and helping boost the future prospects of the country’s housing industry.'
Nrep said the deal would allow it to accelerate the delivery of much-needed new homes in the Swedish market.
'This demonstrates our ability and trust gained to conduct acquisitions of this scale, and enter long-term, meaningful partnerships to create value for all stakeholders. We ultimately seek to combine our collaborative approach and local strategic expertise to scale our impact through the capital we have available, which I’m proud to see this being a very good example of,' added Kock.
The acquisition is made via Nrep’s latest and largest vintage in the NSF value-add series, NSF V, to which the vast majority of the commitments to the fund came from existing investors. The fund was significantly oversubscribed and had an aggregate demand from investors exceeding €4.2 bn.
