FINLAND – Finnish pension insurer Ilmarinen has appointed Aberdeen Property Investors to manage an international indirect investment property portfolio.

Ilmarinen, which has total assets of around 14.5 billion euros, already has an existing direct property portfolio of around 2.4 billion euros invested in Finland. Explaining the decision to move into international property, Timo Kankuri, head of real estate at Ilmarinen, says: “We already have diversified exposure to other international investment asset classes, so investing internationally in property is a natural progression for us.”

Investments will initially be made in unlisted property funds and other appropriate forms of indirect property investment products.

Tomas Otterud, fund manager at Aberdeen Property Investors Nordic, commented: “This is an important step forward for Ilmarinen but also for Nordic region investors, who are increasingly looking to diversify outside of their own domestic market.”

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