OSLO: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said on Monday it has acquired additional stakes of 50.1% in eight office properties in Boston, San Francisco and Washington D.C. for $976.8 million, raising its ownership in the real estate to 100%.
The deal values the portfolio at $1.95 billion, the fund said in a statement.
“In a period of heightened dislocation in the office sector, we see this as an opportune moment to invest,” said Per Loeken, the fund’s global co-head of unlisted real estate.
“By taking full ownership of nearly 3.7 million square feet…, we’re demonstrating our conviction that well-located, high-quality office buildings will continue to deliver long-term value,” he added.
The sellers of the properties were subsidiaries of U.S. insurer TIAA, the fund said.
The U.S. office property market, hard hit since the pandemic by higher interest rates and by many people working from home, has shown signs of bottoming out this year, analysts have said.
The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest with assets of $1.75 trillion, invests the proceeds from Norway’s oil and gas industry for future generations.
Some $27 billion of its funds were invested in real estate as of June 30 of this year, spread across some 900 properties in 14 countries, its latest available disclosure showed.
Source Homevior.in
