Swiss Life REIM plans to reduce its exposure to offices in favour of alternative assets including healthcare, hotels and nursing homes, CEO Frédéric Bôl told PropertyEU in an interview.

Swiss Life REIM plans to reduce its exposure to offices in favour of alternative assets including healthcare, hotels and nursing homes, CEO Frédéric Bôl told PropertyEU in an interview.

‘We want to develop further these niche sectors and have a more balanced portfolio in the future. Institutional investors are increasingly attracted to these asset classes which offer good yields and good liquidity. Also, institutions often invest in offices directly but continue to need asset managers to be active in these alternative asset classes,’ Bol said.

Offices currently represent around 50% of the company's portfolio, followed by retail assets with a 20% share, and other commercial properties making up for the rest.

The company, which last year hired Accor’s senior real estate project manager Johanna Capoani Offredi, has completed the acquisition of a €100 mln portfolio of 26 French budget purchased in June. It expects to grow the portfolio to around €150 mln in the coming few months.

Swiss Life REIM has also recently launched a nursing home fund, which is expected to reach a volume of €160 mln this year. It currently owns eight student homes having completed investments so far for a total of €73 mln.

The company is also active on the retail side with a second OPCI currently under development, Bôl added. ‘We put together three to five French institutional investors which invest through an OPCI vehicle. Our investment target is €150 mln by next year,’ he noted.

The move is part of insurance group Swiss Life’s strategy to increase third-party assets in the future and secure growth in its recurrent fees. The group, which has nearly €40 bn of assets under management, consists of a Swiss headquarters office which manages real estate assets for the insurance companies of the group, as well as a third-party asset management arm in France and the recently-acquired Corpus Sireo business in Germany, with a 550 staff and two nursing home funds under its belt.

In France, Swiss Life REIM manages €5 bn of assets for third parties while Germany’s Corpus Sireo has another €16 bn.