AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has completed, on behalf of clients, the sale of a portfolio of 72 food retail assets to Tredje AP-fonden (AP3), a Swedish state-owned pension fund.
The portfolio comprises approximately 129,000 sq m of primarily food retail space and its 72 units range in size from 345 sq m to 10,132 sq m.
These assets are located across Sweden providing the acquirer with geographic diversification benefits as well as direct exposure to the well performing food retail sector in one of Europe’s strongest economies.
More than 80 per cent of the portfolio’s income is secured by market leading domestic food retailers with excellent covenants.
AXA Real Estate has undertaken various value accretive asset management activities within the portfolio including the refurbishment of the majority of the units to provide tenants with modern grocery stores with good technical standards in strong micro locations.
Henrik Bastman, head of asset management in the Nordic region at AXA Real Estate, says: “The sale of this portfolio to AP3 demonstrates the clear demand from investors for well-located food retail assets, backed by strong tenant covenants, in one of Europe’s strongest economies. This comes at a time where state and private pension funds in Sweden, and across Europe as a whole, are increasingly looking towards the secure and stable cash flows provided by defensive real estate assets in order to meet their liability-matching needs.”