Judge's report

PenSam has a solid and balanced approach to real estate portfolio management. It demonstrates clear, detailed and rational climate change and ESG policies. Its creative use of a bespoke external logistics investment manager, controlled by the fund where internal capacity is insufficient, is commendable.

The core portfolio includes residential and office properties located within the wider Copenhagen region, Aarhus, and Aalborg – three of the largest and most liquid cities in Denmark. This is supplemented by a variety of non-core strategies, including a core-plus logistics strategy, a value-add office strategy and an opportunistic residential strategy.

The core portfolio is managed internally to minimise principal-agency issues, reduce costs and ensure the in-depth asset knowledge, strategic focus and strong continuity that is required to achieve long-term value creation via asset optimisation. It also allows for a more strategic ESG focus that goes beyond certifications. Non-core assets on the other hand are managed externally through bespoke partnership structures, in order to ensure specialised knowledge, optimised implementation structures and the level of flexibility required to capture new market opportunities over time as and when they arise.