Nordic ESG-focused real estate investor NREP, via its NREP NSF V Fund, has acquired 22 properties, mostly care homes, for €420 mln, representing what it says is the biggest deal in this asset class in Sweden.
The portfolio comprises 20 care homes and two pre-schools, with 99,500 m2 of leasable area, located across 18 municipalities, in the Stockholm, Mälardalen and Dalarna regions as well as the southern and western parts of Sweden.
The properties, mostly built between 2018 and 2022, were acquired from developer Vectura, which focuses on the community service, office and hotel segments.
All feature Miljöbyggnad Silver, iDrift, and LEED Gold certification, with one exception being certified by completion.
The properties will be managed by NREP’s social infrastructure platform Altura, which plans to further boost their sustainability performance.
Jani Nokkanen, CIO, NREP, said: ‘This acquisition provides a major boost to our aim to not only become a leading provider of high-quality social infrastructure buildings in Sweden, but to expand our portfolio which we ultimately seek to grow in further target markets with similar fundamentals and pressing challenges. The share of the Nordic population over 80 years of age is forecast to grow significantly the coming years, leading to an increase in the demand for care home apartments, and we see similar needs for more high quality schools and pre-schools, which confirms our strategy to solve real issues through customer-oriented social infrastructure buildings.’
Dorotea Stellmach, head of Altura, Sweden, added: ‘It was a rare opportunity to acquire this well-managed portfolio which offers a similar level of resident-focused care as our existing offer, whilst still having scope for us to further enhance. The human aspect is crucial when providing care homes and pre-schools, and with our team being experienced in healthcare and educational facilities, we are managing a portfolio characterised by high quality, well-tailored environments for the people living, studying, visiting or working in the facilities.’
The geographic spread and high standard of the assets will also strengthen Altura’s position as one of Sweden’s largest owners and managers of modern social infrastructure assets.
Targeting underserved real estate segment in the Nordics and Northern Europe, the NSF V fund has so far raised €3.65 bn, making it the largest ever European value-add real estate fund.
The latest transaction expands the company’s social infrastructure portfolio to just over 3,300 apartments over around 70 properties with over €1.3 bn of assets under management.
