Teesland, the UK and European property fund and asset managemer, has launched the EUR 850 mln Nordic Aktiv fund to invest in the four Nordic countries - Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. The fund will focus on acquiring high-yielding mixed commercial properties with a strong emphasis on multi-let buildings, Teesland said. The target income return to investors is 8%.
Teesland, the UK and European property fund and asset managemer, has launched the EUR 850 mln Nordic Aktiv fund to invest in the four Nordic countries - Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. The fund will focus on acquiring high-yielding mixed commercial properties with a strong emphasis on multi-let buildings, Teesland said. The target income return to investors is 8%.
Teesland said in a statement that 15 investment funds, represented by seven investment management groups, have committed a total of EUR 258 mln of equity at the first closing this week. The investors are predominately British life and pension funds and European fund of funds represented by Morley Fund Management Limited, Schroder Property Investment Management Limited, Henderson Indirect Property Fund (Europe), F&C Property Asset Management plc, BlackRock Investment Management, CBRE Investors and the Dutch real estate asset manager Achmea Vastgoed.
A final closing is scheduled for early next year to take the total equity to EUR 300 million which, combined with debt provided by HBOS, will create an EUR 850 million fund.
The company said that the funds raised will initially be used to acquire a EUR 450 mln seed portfolio assembled by Teesland iOG over the past nine months. The portfolio is held by Scarborough Continental Partners, a joint venture between the Scarborough Group and Bank of Scotland. The portfolio comprises 63 individual properties totalling 460,000 m2 with 618 tenants across Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Teesland iOG, the European arm of Teesland, identified the Nordic region as offering good investment prospects last year. 'Its particular attributes are its strong and growing economics, the size and transparency of the market and the comparatively high yield. Teesland is targeting an IRR of 12-14% for the fund. The Company expects to achieve this through its specialist on the ground asset management approach implemented through its offices in Malmo and Stockholm, with a combined staff of 38, and its local partners in Oslo and Helsinki,' the statement said.
'The speed with which we were able to raise these funds is a strong endorsement of our investment strategy, the quality of our seed portfolio and also the track record we have achieved to date in Europe where funds such as our EHI Fund have shown excellent performance,' Paul Oliver, a director of Teesland, commented.
