Schroders re-opens Nordic fund for new investments

UK asset manager Schroders has re-opened its Nordic property fund for new investments in efforts to take advantage from advantageous conditions across the Scandinavian property markets. Ubbe Strihagen, director of Schroders' business in Scandinavia, told PropertyEU in an interview that the re-opening follows requests by existing German investors to increase their allocation to the fund, and will also allow new investors to enter the vehicle.

The Nordic 1 KAG fund was launched five years ago and it has so far built up a portfolio worth EUR 120 mln consisting of six buildings, one office building in Stockholm, three offices in Helsinki, the Shell headquarters in Vantaa and one retail building in the Helsinki region.

'We have been waiting to invest our capital and now we have started to see attractive opportunities,' Strihagen said. According to him, the company will target new properties in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in a bid to diversify the fund's portfolio which is currently almost entirely invested in Finnish assets.

'The Nordics are usually lagging the UK by about nine months and we believe that the time is starting to be right for investment,' Strihagen added. 'We have been looking at lots of properties over the last 18 months but have held on to our money. Now the markets looks more attractive.'

The group is also considering the re-opening of its European logistics fund for which it will need authorisation from all the existing investors. Alternatively, the company plans to set up a second European logistics property investment vehicle, he added.

This week, Schroders also launched a new closed-end investment vehicle, Columbus UK Real Estate Fund. The vehicle, the third of its type launched by Schroders, has raised £80 mln of equity from more than 10 UK institutional investors. Schroders expects to raise £250 mln for the fund, boosting spending power to £500 mln.