Swiss Life: New commercial fund launches in April
The launch date for the new public fund, which invests in Swiss commercial real estate, has now been set. The initial issue is expected to raise CHF 500 million for the purchase of a Swiss Life portfolio.
Swiss Life Asset Managers plans to launch its new real estate fund «Swiss Life REF (CH) ESG Diversified Commercial Switzerland» on April 1. The fund is open to all investors and invests in Swiss commercial real estate. «The real estate fund intends to use the proceeds from the initial issue to acquire an existing portfolio of properties in attractive locations in cities such as Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Lugano,» writes Swiss Life. These are office, retail and mixed-use buildings with long-term leases. The initial portfolio is expected to comprise 20 properties with an investment volume of around CHF 640 million and is currently owned by Swiss Life. It is planned to issue fund units worth around CHF 500 million as part of the initial issue.
According to Swiss Life, a key objective of the fund is to achieve a «net zero portfolio» by 2050 at the latest. The vehicle is based on the CRREM model (Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor), while the reporting of environmentally relevant key figures is based on the CO₂ benchmarking framework for real estate portfolios. This is based on the minimum requirements of AMAS (Reida methodology).
A subscription period is planned from March 9 to 20. The fund units will then be traded on SIX.
