Swiss Life in €1bn boost to logistics and industrial real estate

Giant asset management group Swiss Life Asset Managers plans a major new commitment of up to €1bn into logistics and industrial real estate from this autumn, with the establishment of a new investment foundation for Swiss pension funds and a separate fund for institutional investors.

The main focus of the investment will be on Germany, France, Benelux, Switzerland and the UK, with the properties being ideally divided equally between the logistics and the industrial sectors.

The group said in a statement that investments in European industrial and logistics real estate will benefit from the megatrends of de-globalisation, e-commerce, urban logistics and Industry 4.0. Owning assets in the sector is characterized by steady income, with the focus more on rental revenue rather than asset appreciation. It said the mix of small-scale industrial and large-scale logistics properties should generate above-average returns with below-average susceptibility to fluctuations in income. Post COVID-19, industrial and logistics properties in particular would prove to be extremely robust in addition to the group’s substantial holdings in residential properties.

Swiss Life AM managed assets of around CHF 79.3 billion at the end of March this year. Along with the investments of Swiss Life's insurance companies, Swiss Life AM manages assets of over CHF 250 billion.

With real estate valued at around CHF 97.5 billion at the end of 2019, Swiss Life AM is in the top league of the largest institutional real estate investors in Europe. Within the company, the subsidiary BEOS, which it acquired two years ago, specialises in the development and management of industrial and logistics properties. It managed over €4.2bn of assets in the sector at the end of 2019.