Hines Pan-European Core Fund Acquires 121 Nordic Swan Ecolabelled Homes in Copenhagen from Bonava

(COPENHAGEN) – Hines, the international real estate firm, has acquired 121 apartments at Trikotageparken, east Copenhagen, from developer Bonava on behalf of the Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF).

Located in Copenhagen’s Østerbro district in the east of the city, the new homes are part of Bonava’s Trikotageparken development, which has been recognized by the Nordic Swan Ecolabel scheme for high levels of sustainability. To qualify for the Ecolabel, the development must meet strict criteria covering every stage of the building’s life cycle, including materials used and long-term use.

The new homes acquired by HECF will consist of one, two and three-bedroom apartments for rent, totaling 10,508 sqm of space across three buildings, and will be completed in Q4 2021. A further building will be sold by Bonava through private market sale.

Trikotageparken was designed by architects Praksis Arkitekter and is named after Julius Hansens Trikotagefabrik, which occupied the site until the 1970s. The development’s future residents will benefit from easy access to local amenities ideal for families and young professionals such as the nearby forest and park, attractive schools, kindergartens and Tuborg Harbour, which serves as a local CBD and has the Waterfront shopping center.

The acquisition is the second residential deal undertaken by the HECF and follows the fund’s acquisition of the Pontkade Phase 3 project site in the NDSM-West area of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in February. Since 2019, HECF has sought to increase exposure to residential and urban logistics assets in key European cities within its portfolio.

The 121-unit Nordic Swan Ecolabel project marks the first residential investment by Hines in Denmark, as a part of a bigger strategy to increase green residential investments in the Nordics.

The investment in Trikotageparken underlines HECF’s commitment to increase residential exposure while achieving high levels of sustainability and ESG performance across its portfolio. In 2019 the HECF was recognized by GRESB as the most sustainable fund in Europe of all diversified portfolios and Global Sector Leader in Real Estate Assessments for an unprecedented third consecutive year.

Peter Epping, Senior Managing Director and HECF Fund Manager at Hines, said: “Our investment in Copenhagen’s Trikotageparken reflects our ambition to increase the exposure of the HECF in the living sector within key city centre locations across Europe. As we continue to expand our residential portfolio, we will focus on high quality investments which combine strong real estate fundamentals and the highest sustainability and ESG criteria.”

James Robson, country head for The Nordics at Hines, said: “At Hines we strive to be world leaders in sustainability, and Trikotageparken is an excellent example of high quality ‘green’ design. We are excited to be undertaking our first residential project in Denmark and The Nordics region, and looking forward to seeing the scheme develop into a highly sustainable new community. We are actively targeting similar projects that demonstrate innovative, forward-thinking approaches to design and sustainability.”

Kristina Olsen, Managing Director at Bonava Danmark A/S, said: “We are very happy with the cooperation with Hines, who share our focus on sustainability. Investor sales is part of our strategy, and in Hines we have found a partner, with a long-term perspective on the market.”

Price details for the acquisition were not disclosed.

ENDS

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 205 cities in 24 countries. Hines has approximately $133.3 billion of assets under management, including $71 billion for which Hines serves as an investment manager, including non-real estate assets, and $62.3 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 165 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,393 properties, totalling 459 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 539 properties, representing over 232 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, 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 16 cities as well as a presence in 49 cities in 11 countries, with €20.9 billion of assets under management in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Visit www.hines.com for more information.

The Hines Pan-European Core Fund was set up in 2006 with the aim of providing investors with a resilient income profile derived from a diversified portfolio of high-quality assets located in inner-city locations across major European cities.

The Fund combines disciplined sustainable management policies with a risk-adjusted return profile and has been awarded the European leadership in the GRESB ranking for three years while delivering an average net total return of 8.2% between 2014 and 2018, with an income return of 3.5%.

As of Q4 2019 the HECF portfolio was 97.5% occupied with an aggregate value in excess of €1.4bn. The portfolio of the Fund is currently composed of 21 assets invested in 15 city markets across eight different European countries.

The Fund has continually improved asset level performance of buildings by working in close collaboration with the local Hines teams and property managers and engaging tenants in a variety of ways. An example of this has been the drive to optimize the energy consumption of the buildings, resulting in a 12% reduction in like-for-like consumption since 2016. The total return of 8.4% achieved in 2018 illustrates that sustainability improvements could also be combined with strong performance for Fund’s investors.

About Bonava

Bonava is a leading residential development company in Northern Europe which has been creating homes and neighbourhoods since the 1930s. With its 2 300 co-workers, Bonava operates in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, St. Petersburg, Estonia and Latvia, with sales of SEK 15,5 billion in 2019. Bonava's shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

www.bonava.com