Aberdeen Asset Management has been appointed to manage a Nordic property portfolio worth EUR 537 mln. The portfolio properties are mainly located in Denmark, Sweden and Finland and consist of retail and residential properties. The portfolio was previously managed by Danish property asset manager, Property Group.

A number of the properties are distressed assets which will require active management to reach their full potential. Aberdeen's focus is to optimise the portfolio until it is ready to be sold.

The takeover of this portfolio comes a week after Aberdeen was chosen to manage distressed assets to the value of EUR 308 mln on behalf of Danish financial institutions.

With the addition of these two portfolios, Aberdeen in the Nordics has grown its property assets under management by EUR 846 mln to EUR 9.9 bn.

Tonny Nielsen, Aberdeen's Nordic head of Investment Management said: 'I am delighted to see this shift among financial institutions towards outsourcing to specialist management companies in order to optimize their portfolio, instead of passively managing properties.'

The agreement takes effect on April 1, 2011.