How Brexit Helped The World’s Largest Sovereign Fund Make Its Fastest Property Transaction Ever
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund—Norway’s $875B fund—went fishing for property on London’s Oxford Street just two short weeks after the UK voted to leave the EU in June.
The fund snapped up two properties—a retail and office location—from Aberdeen UK Property Fund for $164M for a sizable discount, and Norges Bank Real Estate Management CEO Karsten Kallevig (pictured) said the deal “may have been the fastest transaction we’ve ever made,” Bloomberg reports.
As June came to a close, Norway’s fund began cutting the value of its robust UK real estate portfolio by 5% following Brexit—losing 1.6% on its $20B unlisted real estate holdings in the second quarter. Much of the fund’s UK real estate includes large swatches of property along Regent Street and within the Mayfair district. [Bloomberg]
