Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co., Helsinki, formed a joint venture company with New York Life Real Estate Investors, said Mikko Antila, portfolio manager at Ilmarinen.
Ilmarinen teamed up with New York Life to jointly acquire additional assets and grow its combined core real estate portfolio to some $1.2 billion, Mr. Antila said. The company, 49% of which is now owned by Ilmarinen, was initially seeded with six of New York Life's wholly owned assets.
"Ilmarinen is looking to improve the international diversification of its real estate portfolio by establishing strategic partnerships with like-minded investors in Western Europe and the U.S.," Mr. Antila said.
Mr. Antila added: "Ilmarinen is actively monitoring new investment opportunities and it is possible that new joint venture investments will be made in the near future."
The €38.5 billion ($45.5 billion) pension insurance company has €4.4 billion of investments in real estate, with international investments representing 16% of its total allocation to real estate. The joint venture brought the total of Ilmarinen's exposure to U.S. real estate to $450 million.
