Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 57

Opportunity Knocking
Union Investment Real Estate sees
great potential in Finland
– and elsewhere in Nordics

Sustainability, energy efficiency and the environment remain the key drivers in the real estate investment sector, says
Philip La Pierre, Head of Investment Europe, Union Investment Real Estate GmbH. La Pierre says that his company
firmly believes that sustainable practices go hand in hand with economic added value and the viability of sustainable
products over the long term.

I

n fact, Union Investment is one of Germany’s first major property portfolio managers to have conducted a comprehensive
analysis of its global real estate fund portfolio according to sustainability criteria. The
properties in Finland, for example, are all
designed to meet the group’s sustainability
requirements, most of them hold BREEAM
certificates.
The company has been active in the
Nordics – meaning, in this case, Finland and
Sweden – since 2005. Its portfolio in Finland
currently comprises six office properties and
a logistics centre in Espoo, Vantaa and Helsinki, totalling some 200 million Euros. In
2013, Union Investment acquired the headquarters of construction company Skanska in
Helsinki for its open-ended real estate fund
UniInstitutional European Real Estate. Completed in 2012, the property has LEED Platinum certification and is fully let to Skanska.

Wanted: Top Quality!
The Skanska headquarters building is a good
example of the company’s quality-oriented
investment approach:
“Working with dependable partners

such as Skanska, we have established an
excellent portfolio in Helsinki within the
space of just a few years tha Ё