SWEDEN - Swedish real estate private equity firm Niam has completed its first close for the Core Plus fund, an FCP-FIS established in Luxembourg and targeting real estate investments in the Nordic region.

Most of the capital comes from German, Swedish, Finnish and French public and corporate pension funds and financial institutions.

Niam Nordic Core Plus real estate fund will target office, retail and residential property investments and be invested through Niam's organisation locally located in Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen.

Niam is currently actively managing a real estate portfolio of €3.3bn through its three funds Niam III, Niam IV and Niam V.

In other news, a consortium of Swedish real estate investors led by Hemfosa Fastigheter has offloaded the property portfolio of Saab, the bankrupt Swedish carmaker, which it acquired last summer.

Hemfosa Fastigheter bought 50.1% of the shares in Saab Property for SEK255m (€29m) and held the remaining 49% in pledge for future rental fees.

The property consists of 483,000 square meters of building space.

Jens Engwall, chief executive at Hemfosa, confirmed the deal, but declined to state the value of the sale, adding only that the consortium had turned a profit.

Following its bankruptcy, Saab was sold to National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), a company registered in Sweden and founded by two firms in Hong Kong and Japan.

Hemfosa was founded in June 2009 by a team headed by Engwall.

It is owned by the management group and Nordic institutional investors including Folksam, Alecta and Sampo.

Lastly, Folksam, the insurance and pensions provider, has acquired Katsan 1, a property in the Skanstull area of Stockholm, from rival pension and insurance provider Länsförsäkringar for an undisclosed sum.

The property has a defined energy efficiency and green profile and was finalised in 2003 as a modern and flexible office building, with the highest standard of energy efficiency.

The deal was done between Folksam's general insurance arm, Folksam Sak, and Länsförsäkringar Liv, the company's life arm.

The building comprises of 5,600 square meters of office space and is today fully occupied.

Torbjörn Wiberg, chief executive at the real estate arm of Folksam, said the financial strength of his company allowed it to continue investing in attractive inner-city areas.

He said the deal would strengthen its position in Skanstull, and that Katsan 1, with its environmental credentials and efficiency, was a good investment for clients.