A Nordic real estate investment bank, lender and fund manager is opening a London office in order to attract capital into the region.
Brunswick Real Estate has recruited Martin Wiwen-Nilsson, partner in charge of sales and restructuring for Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa at Goldman Sachs, to establish a new office in Albemarle Street, W1. The office, which will open next week, will also make UK investments on behalf of Nordic capital.
The company is looking to attract overseas investors into the Nordics, where traditionally domestic buyers are dominant. However, the likes of Blackstone, Starwood and Cerberus have all spent billions of euros in the region over the past year.
“Investment into the Nordic markets is compelling as they have high population growth, there are strong public finances and the markets are also quite transparent.
“Combined, the Nordic countries are the third-largest market in Europe, and Sweden on its own is the fourth largest,” said Brunswick founding partner Peter Leimdörfer.
Leimdörfer is Brunswick’s investment banking arm and has advised on the most investment transactions in the region in each of the past three years. In July it advised on Denmark’s largest-ever real estate deal, the sale of a 49.2% stake in £1.6bn Danish property company DADES to Novo Group and TryghedsGruppen.
Sveafastigheter is Brunswick’s fund and investment manager, which has €1.3bn (£955m) of assets under management in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Estonia. It always works alongside on-the-ground asset managers and co-invests. This week it sold out of almost all of its second fund, raised in 2009, in a £248m deal with Partners Group for a portfolio of 32 properties in Sweden, Finland and Estonia.
Its lending division, Leimdörfer Real Estate Capital, is a senior debt fund manager that has close to €160m under management. Its 65 staff work at its headquarters in Stockholm and its offices in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Malmo and Hong Kong.
