Nordic investment manager Northern Horizon has acquired a newly built property in Denmark that will provide both care home facilities and senior housing for more than 100 residents.
Northern Horizon paid more than DKK 250 mln (€33 mln) for the hybrid property from SPD, a specialist care home developer in Denmark and Sweden with whom Northern Horizon has completed several previous transactions.
The acquisition will be used to seed Northern Horizon’s latest fund in the Aged Care series, which is currently in the process of fundraising, the firm said.
Launched in 2020, Northern Horizon Aged Care Fund IV has an equity target of €400 mln and is aiming to deliver a net IRR of 7% to investors.
Located in Frederikssund, a medium-sized town in the Greater Copenhagen region, the property comprises a 72-bed care home, operated by Attendo, and 30 senior housing apartments, all completed in 2019. The buildings all comply with DGNB Gold Certificate standards.
Commenting on the mixed nature of the property, Kasper Wehner, investment manager and country director for Northern Horizon in Denmark, said: 'Care homes remain our core focus, but we see more opportunities arising where care facilities are combined with senior housing or other usage to create a strong local community.'
He added: 'Such mixed senior living focused concepts are more commonplace abroad but are still relatively new to the Nordic region. The creation of larger communities targeting seniors challenges the traditional definition of healthcare assets, but also provides for important service synergies that can create additional value for both residents and operators.'
Northern Horizon's Aged Care series was established to help Nordic countries meet the challenge of rapidly ageing populations by funding the development and acquisition of modern care homes, leased to leading public and private care operators on long-term contracts.
'Our commitment to the Nordic market remains strong as we continue to see demographically driven demand for good quality residential elderly care facilities across the Nordics,' noted Riikka Moreau, fund manager in charge of Aged Care for Northern Horizon. 'Meanwhile, as investment managers, we are happy to have witnessed the resilience of the Aged Care asset class in light of the current market turmoil. This confirms our opinion that the non-discretionary nature of residential care demand combined with a government-backed Nordic care system will continue to offer stable income going forward.'
Northern Horizon currently manages three real estate funds and one separate account mandate for leading European institutional investors.
