NEW YORK CITY—New York Life Real Estate Investors and Finland's Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co. said Friday they had formed a joint venture to acquire core and core-plus office investments in major US markets. New York Life seeded the venture with a portfolio of initial investments, which Ilmarinen said is valued at about $620 million.
Ilmarinen acquired a 49% interest in the six-property portfolio, which includes assets in Boston; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Orange County; and Charlotte. New York Life will retain a 51% interest in the JV, and will manage it as well. The ultimate goal is to assemble a $1.2-billion portfolio in the next few years.
“Ilmarinen's investment philosophy and process are closely aligned with ours and we look forward to a long and very successful relationship,” says Paul Behar, head of business development at New York Life Real Estate Investors. “We are looking for a select group of like-minded investment partners who take the same long-term view New York Life does—so we can continue to achieve our investment objectives within the real estate sector.”
At Ilmarinen, Mikko Antila, portfolio manager in charge of international real estate investments, says the seed properties represent “a geographically diversified portfolio in growing metropolitan areas on both the East and West Coast of the United States. Our investments will focus on office properties that are technically sound and functionally modern with good occupancy rates.”
Ilmnarinen says the new venture supports an investment strategy which aims at improving the international diversification of its real estate investments. Already, Ilmarinen has made investments in the multifamily and office sectors in the DC metro area, and it also has holdings in continental Europe.
However, the bulk of the insurer's US$5.2-billion real estate holdings are in its native Finland. It will build over 1,000 apartments in the Helsinki metropolitan area over the next few years, for example.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
