Core / Core+
Core and Core+ real estate strategies focus on stabilized, income-producing properties in strong, transparent markets.
Asset Class Leaders
Why invest in Core / Core+
Pros
Cons
What characterizes Core / Core+?
Industry/Sector: Core and Core+ strategies concentrate on stabilized, income-producing assets across office, logistics, multifamily, and retail sectors. These properties are located in economically vibrant, institutionally liquid markets with strong tenant demand, infrastructure access, and long-term urban relevance. Core+ often targets similar locations but with light repositioning or re-leasing potential to enhance returns.
ESG: ESG factors are increasingly non-negotiable in Core/Core+ investing. Properties typically feature sustainable design, high energy performance ratings, and alignment with green building certifications such as LEED, BREEAM, or NABERS. Managers are proactive in future-proofing portfolios by meeting evolving regulatory standards and responding to tenant expectations around carbon footprints, wellness, and transparency.
Instruments: Equity Investments are structured as direct equity in fully or near-stabilized real estate. Core assets maintain conservative leverage and long holding periods, emphasizing predictability and income security. Core+ introduces a modest element of active management – such as lease renewals or asset upgrades – without compromising the stability profile.
Target Company Size: Target assets typically range from €50 million to €500 million+, with larger portfolios formed through club deals or aggregated funds. These buildings often feature blue-chip or government tenants, long lease durations, and institutional-quality specifications. The scale and quality of these investments make them well-suited for insurance companies, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds seeking capital preservation with consistent yield.
Manager Q&A
Question 1
What is driving the evolution of the opportunity set in core+ real estate?
In our view, the opportunities in core+ real estate are always there. Currently, the timing might be especially attractive. Coming from a period of higher interest rates, several of the larger listed companies and open-ended funds are less active than usual. And no matter the timing, the Nordic region is always among the most stable and attractive for owners of commercial real estate. At the same time, the region offers opportunities through significant differences between the countries, specific locations and specific sub-segments – not to mention the various specific projects. Unlisted assets with market imperfections mean opportunities for generating outsized returns with lower risk for a local expert.
Question 2
How do you manage risk and ensure downside protection in your strategy?
Below are some of the core elements we prioritise – each contributing to the strong historical performance and attractive risk-adjusted returns delivered by our funds:
- Sensible acquisition cost compared to replacement cost
- Low rent compared to market rent (where possible)
- Diversification over sectors, tenants and geography, and even time and size
- Thorough due diligence
- A clear plan for managing the asset from acquisition to divestment, including risk reduction and value enhancement
- Acquisition agreements tailored to the specific contracts. The devil is in the details, and “one size fits all” does not work
- Pragmatic and positive relationship with tenant. Plan to enable the tenant to expand
- Leverage Tenant Improvements to secure favorable lease structures
- Location; both macro and micro focus
- Sensible LTV and the share of fixed interest rate
- Exit timing and structuring
Question 3
How do you differentiate your platform in a competitive core+ landscape?
One of the longest and strongest track records investing in Nordics Real Estate. Several 1’st quartile-ranked funds in the Prequin database
- Proven track record of following the same strategy over the cycle
- Broad mandate enables us to be disciplined opportunists and leverage inefficiencies across the Nordic market
- Off-market network: Our long-standing presence in the Nordic real estate market has earned us a reputation for being decisive, transparent, and reliable. Counterparties know the type of deals we pursue and trust that a letter of intent from us typically leads to a transaction. Decades of investing through varied market cycles have given us the confidence to act where others hesitate. We take a risk-adjusted approach—willing to invest in unloved sectors if the fundamentals are sound. We’re not market followers; we make independent decisions based on our own analysis, which leads to more relevant and actionable deal flow.
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