By Charles Duxbury
Norway's sovereign-wealth fund said Thursday it has made another
investment in property, buying a half share in a portfolio of
industrial properties from Prologis (PLD) for 1.2 billion euros
($1.6 billion) as the fund pursues a strategy to shift some of its
$680 billion investment portfolio into real estate and away from
fixed income.
The central bank-run fund said Prologis, an owner, operator and
developer of industrial real estate, will retain the other half of
the portfolio and manage the properties on behalf of the two
owners.
The portfolio consists of 195 properties in 11 European
countries including France, the U.K., Spain, Poland and Italy.
"The agreement marks the fund's first investment in industrial
real estate and is in line with our strategy to build a
high-quality portfolio that's spread over different countries and
sectors," said Karsten Kallevig, the fund's head of real-estate
investment in a news release.
Norway's sovereign-wealth fund, also known as the oil fund, has
previously invested in property in the U.K., France, Switzerland
and Germany.
Its latest deal was a 1 billion Swiss franc ($1.1 billion) deal
to buy and lease back Credit Suisse AG's (CSGN.VX) Zurich offices
late November.
In October, the oil fund bought a 50% stake in properties in
Frankfurt and Berlin and a stake in the U.K.'s Meadowhall Shopping
Centre. It also owns real estate on London's Regent Street and
Paris's Avenue Des Champs-Elysees.
The oil fund was set up in 1990 to safeguard the proceeds from
Norway's oil industry. Its move into property comes after it
received a mandate in 2010 to invest up to 5% of its assets in real
estate.
At the end of September, only about 0.3% of the fund was
invested in real estate.
The fund's Mr. Kallevig has estimated it might take four to
eight years for the 5% goal to be reached.
-Write to Charles Duxbury at charles.duxbury@dowjones.com