Danish labour-market pension funds PensionDanmark and Sampension have invested in a 47,000sqm office development — Teknikerbyen — just north of Copenhagen, buying the asset from SEB Pension.

SEB Pension, whose Danish business is being sold to Danske-Bank unit Danica Pension, recently sold around half of the commercial property asset to a consortium of Sampension and Kristensen Properties for DKK122m (€16.4m), and has now sold the remaining for 26.000sqm to PensionDanmark for DKK493m.

PensionDanmark’s portion of Teknikerbyen, which is located in the Virum district to the north of Copenhagen, is leased on a long-term contract to Danish energy company Ørsted — previously known as DONG Energy.

Torben Möger Pedersen, chief executive of PensionDanmark, said: “We are taking over an attractive commercial property with modern facilities and a good location.

“With Ørsted as a solid tenant on a long-term contract, we expect the investment to give our members a good return for many years into the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sampension said it had plans to redevelop some of the asset, turning some space into serviced offices.

Hasse Jørgensen, the fund’s chief executive, said: “We are seeing rising demand for modern flexible office buildings with good parking facilities, modern air conditioning, flexible decor and access to good communal facilities, such as cantines and meeting rooms.”

These could be created in Teknikerbyen, he said.

Sampension is the main investor and Kristensen Properties is co-investor, and will act as asset manager and adviser for the consortium.

“With Kristensen Properties, we have the same partner as we had in a similar office property in Aalborg, where we had good experiences running serviced offices together,” Jørgensen said.

Sampension said the investment increased the value of its portfolio of direct Danish real estate to DKK6.8bn.

In other news, PKA, which runs three Danish labour-market pension funds, announced it is investing DKK350m building homes in the Gellerup district of Aarhus

The district, which has been a notoriously run-down area accommodating a high proportion of immigrants, is in the process of renovation.

PKA said that with the deal to build around 190 mixed homes, it would be the first institutional investor to get involved in the neighbourhood.

The municipality of Aarhus and Braband Housing Association were already developing Gellerup into a new city quarter in order to make it more socially coherent, the pension fund said.

Michael Nellemann Pedersen, PKA’s CIO, said: “This is a robust investment which both gives our members a good return, and sees us supporting the development of the areas into a lively district with a big diversity of residents and types of good quality homes,” he said.

Construction firm JCN Bolig developed the whole project with PKA, the pension fund said.

Separately, AP Pension said agreements have now been signed giving the go-ahead for its planned real estate investment as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Danish municipality of Horsens.

Under the plan, AP Pension — in cooperation with the developer CASA — is to undertake property development in Horsens city centre.

Peter Olsson, chief executive of AP Real Estate (AP Ejendomme), said: “In Horsens we can help carry out projects that we and the citizens of the municipality can be proud of, and at the same time give our customers a good return.”

He said the Jutland city was exciting and dynamic and that there was still “an incredible potential for development and growth”.

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