Swiss Life AM: Real estate portfolio in Switzerland to grow

Last year, Swiss Life AM acquired residential and commercial real estate totaling 2.9 billion in its core markets of Switzerland, Germany, France and the UK. These acquisitions were offset by disposals with a volume of around one billion over the same period. At the end of 2017, Swiss Life AM managed real estate worth EUR 69.2 billion across Europe.

The company has announced that it intends to gradually expand its real estate portfolio in Switzerland. The focus is on "properties with high location quality and excellent property characteristics in the residential, office and retail use classes". Investments will also be made in niche segments with high growth potential, such as healthcare properties, student residences and co-working spaces.

Last year, Swiss Life AM acquired the mixed-use property "Hochhaus zur Palme" in Zurich, the new office building project "Esplanade 1" in the Pont-Rouge district of Geneva and eight residential high-rises in a new district of Schaffhausen on the former steel foundry site, among others.

At the end of 2017, a real estate fund was also launched that can only be acquired by qualified investors and invests in properties in major European cities and regional centers.

Fund and service business to grow

Swiss Life AM has set itself the goal of further expanding the volume of real estate funds. This segment is the growth focus of the company's real estate activities. The target group for the new fund investment solutions will be institutional investors.

Swiss Life AM also sees the investment business for third-party clients as a growth driver. "The real estate asset class plays an important role for the Swiss Life Group", says Stefan Mächler, Group CIO of Swiss Life.

"In a real estate market that continues to develop positively, we are seeing attractive returns compared to risk-free investments. Growth in the real estate business should therefore extend to all major real estate markets in Europe." In the medium term, Swiss Life Asset Managers therefore not only wants to be represented in its European core markets, but also to become more active locally in the investment markets of Scandinavia, Benelux, Central and Southern Europe.