(COPENHAGEN, DENMARK) – Hines, the international real estate firm, has acquired the iconic Portland Towers building in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark. The asset was purchased from three Danish pension funds; PFA, ATP and Pension Denmark on behalf of the Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF).
Portland Towers consists of two former silos, which were converted for multi-tenant office accommodation in 2014. Located along Copenhagen’s waterfront in Nordhavn, the property comprises of over 137,000 square feet of office space and is fully leased to a prestigious tenant mix. Tenants include the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, corporate finance advisory firm FIH Partners, consultancy firm PA Consulting Group and Dansk Standard, Denmark’s national standardization organization.
Portland Towers set new standards for sustainable building design, construction and operation during its BREEAM certification in 2014. HECF’s investment in Portland Towers underlines the fund and Hines’ commitment to achieving high levels of sustainability and ESG performance across its portfolio.
The acquisition follows the fund’s acquisition of 121 apartments at Trikotageparken, north Copenhagen, in April. Since 2019, HECF has sought to increase exposure to office, residential and urban logistics assets in the Nordics and Portland Towers forms part of HECF’s wider strategy of seeking high-quality Core assets in European cities with strong, long-term growth prospects.
In 2020, the HECF was recognized as one of the top property funds in Europe, achieving the MSCI European Property Investment Award for the best performing pan-European balanced fund between 2017 and 2019. This follows the Fund’s recognition by GRESB as the most sustainable fund in Europe of all diversified portfolios and Global Sector Leader in Real Estate Assessments for a third consecutive year.
“Copenhagen remains an important target market for HECF given its stability and affordability in the European context as well as its generally strong fundamentals and long-term growth prospects,” said Peter Epping, Senior Managing Director and HECF Fund Manager at Hines. “Portland Towers is an outstanding asset in an excellent location and with its strong tenant mix and high sustainability performance it fits well into HECF’s approach of strategic investing. Across Europe we continue to see opportunities to acquire high-quality office assets in major cities, alongside our diversification toward residential and logistics.”
“This truly unique building is well positioned within the vibrant new district of Nordhavn, and offers an unparalleled view of the waterfront and Copenhagen skyline,” said James Robson, Senior Managing Director and country head for The Nordics at Hines. “The area is set to see further development and the newly opened M4 metro line further enhances Nordhavn’s already excellent transport links. We see strong growth potential in Denmark, and our Copenhagen team has grown to 16 as we actively review opportunities across office, residential, logistics and mixed-use.”
Price details for the acquisition were not disclosed. Hines was advised by Plesner Advokatpartnerselskab, EY and Rambøll. CBRE A/S provided commercial advice. The vendors were advised by Colliers International. Photography of Portland Towers was provided by Mikkel Johnsen.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 225 cities in 25 countries. Hines has approximately $144.1 billion of assets under management, including $75.5 billion for which Hines serves as investment manager, including non-real estate assets, and $68.6 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 1,426 properties, totalling over 472 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 576 properties, representing over 246 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 55 cities in 13 countries, with €22.7 billion of assets under management, including €19.8 billion for which Hines serves as an investment manager and €2.9 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
About the Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF)
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 Hines European Core has been awarded by MSCI as the strongest performing fund over the three years 2017-2019 among the European institutional balanced sector funds, with a total return of 8.45% p.a. during 2017-2019, 211 bps above the average return of the benchmark, making it one of the best performing core property funds in Europe. As of Q2 2020 the HECF portfolio was 97.2% occupied with an aggregate value of c.€1.6bn. The portfolio of the Fund comprises 25 assets including forward commitments, invested in 15 city markets across eight different European countries.
