Norges Bank Investment Management, acting on behalf of Norway's 4.921 trillion kroner ($811.5 billion) Government Pension Fund Global, Oslo, purchased a 45% stake in 66 U.S. industrial properties from Prologis for $450 million.
Prologis will retain a 55% share in the joint venture, which plans to add assets in the future, bank officials said in a statement Monday. There is no debt linked to the assets, which are located in eight states.
“We are investing in a solid portfolio of logistics assets close to key transportation hubs,” Karsten Kallevig, NBIM's chief investment officer for real estate, said in the statement.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund plans to increase its allocation to real estate to 5% of total assets from 0.9% at the end of the third quarter. It made its first real estate purchase in 2011.
The fund bought a 50% share of a European property portfolio from Prologis for €1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) a year ago.
Earlier this month, NBIM started a joint venture with MetLife to acquire U.S. office properties.
