(LONDON) – Hines, the global real estate firm, has raised €75 million (DKK558 million) of equity from leading Danish pension fund Lærernes Pension for its new value-add fund, Hines European Value Fund 3 (HEVF 3).
Founded in 1993, Lærernes Pension is a leading Danish listed life insurance company providing pension schemes for more than 150,000 teachers employed in Danish municipal and private primary and lower-secondary schools, and in adult education. At the end of 2021, it had a market value of DKK146.1 billion (c.€20 billion). Lærernes Pension’s commitment to HEVF 3 reflects the shared sustainability goals of its members with Hines’ family of funds, as well as the Hines European Value Fund series’ long track record of delivering strong returns for investors.
Hines currently manages a real estate portfolio across asset classes in Denmark including The Trinity Quarter, a 21,000-square-meter mixed-use refurbishment project on Købmagergade, Copenhagen. Since its acquisition in 2018 by Hines European Value Fund 1, this historic site has been transformed into a landmark mixed-use destination featuring a 243-room hotel operated by 25hours Hotels and a strong retail offering, all while restoring the area’s historic buildings and enhancing their heritage features. Recently, Hines announced that Nike has signed for 725 square meters at The Trinity Quarter, representing its first store in Denmark.
HEVF 3 is the latest in Hines European Value Fund series and complements Hines’ other European funds, the open-ended core-plus Hines European Property Partners (HEPP) and Hines European Core Fund (HECF). HEVF 3, which last month raised over €900 million from investors at its first closing, will target high conviction thematic investment into tactical opportunities for value creation, supported by fundamental trends and capital markets inefficiencies. Hines focuses on applying its in-house real estate skillset to actively create value at the asset level, in strong locations within Europe’s primary institutional markets. It will diversify across markets, sector, and risk profiles. The fund has already secured control of two separate deals in the logistics and residential sectors.
Tobias Friis, senior portfolio manager at Lærernes Pension, added: “We are excited to begin a new partnership with Hines, with whom we share a passion for sustainable investments in the commercial real estate sector. We believe this is a great opportunity to work with a globally recognized real estate specialist manager to help address the dramatic structural shifts within commercial real estate across Europe following the impacts of Covid-19 and at the same time provide our members with good financial returns.”
Helle Ærendahl Heldbo, head of alternatives at Lærernes Pension, said: “With our investment in the Hines European Value Fund 3, we hope to help drive the climate agenda through collaboration with Hines, as a long-term investor in forestry we find it interesting that Hines is on the forefront of showing that mass timber is a viable construction material to be utilized by the industry. We believe an investment in this fund will help positively impact the sustainable redevelopment of real estate and new construction. ESG continues to be a growing area of focus for the industry, and we will continue to pursue our goals through this new partnership on a pan-European wide basis.”
Paul White, fund manager for the HEVF Series, commented: “Lærernes Pension’s commitment to HEVF 3 is indicative of our growing presence in the Nordics and our aspirations for continued investment in Denmark. Hines’ boots-on-the-ground approach allows us to develop strong local relationships and work with local stakeholders to deliver meaningful development projects which meet ambitious ESG goals while seeking strong returns for investors. HEVF 3 will leverage this same approach, continuing the series’ success and evolving in line with the ever-changing real estate investment landscape across Europe.”
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About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at approximately $90.3 billion¹. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totaling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totaling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments currently underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 17 cities as well as a presence in 60 cities in 14 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at approximately €24.5 billion and provides third-party property-level services totaling 4.3 million square meters in Europe.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
1. Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of 31 December 2021.
About the Hines European Value Fund (HEVF 1)
HEVF 1 was the first fund in the HEVF series, with the objective to secure and invest in value-add real estate throughout Europe on behalf of institutional investors. HEVF 1 is a closed-ended Euro-denominated, Luxembourg-based investment fund which launched in July 2017. It held its final close in 2018 and the total fund size exceeded €720 million of equity commitments, surpassing its original target by more than 40 percent. HEVF 1 successfully secured 9 investments across Europe and is now focused on execution and disposition of these assets, with the anticipation that the Fund will outperform its target returns. The flagship HEVF series for Hines in Europe has a geographic mandate across the European Union and has the flexibility to invest in logistics, living, office, retail and mixed-use opportunities in institutional markets.
About the Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2)
HEVF 2 is the second closed-ended, Luxembourg-based investment fund in the HEVF series with the objective to secure and invest in value-add commercial real estate throughout Europe on behalf of institutional investors. HEVF 2 was initially launched in December 2019 and has effectively been fully allocated across 14 separate investments across the residential, logistics and office sectors. Execution and crystallization of performance is the focus and currently the fund expects to outperform its target returns.
About Hines European Core Fund (HECF)
HECF was created in 2006 with the aim of providing investors with a resilient income profile and benchmark’s outperformance, derived from a diversified portfolio of high-quality assets located in prime locations across major European cities. As of Q1 2022 the HECF portfolio was 98.5% occupied with an aggregate fund value of c.€3.0bn. The portfolio of the Fund comprises 36 assets including forward commitments, invested in 17 city markets across ten different European countries.
About Hines European Property Partners (HEPP)
HEPP is a diversified open-ended core-plus fund focused on key European markets. HEPP will leverage Hines’ expertise and boots on the ground presence in 16 offices across Europe to identify investment opportunities in Europe’s most dynamic urban centers and gateway cities. The Fund will seek to acquire and develop sustainable assets across a range of sectors including logistics, office, living – residential, student and senior housing. HEPP launched in Q2 2022 and aims to attract €1bn in investor equity to the strategy in the first 12 months from launch.
