Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), responsible for the investments of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), has announced a partnership with Grosvenor, a UK property business.

As part of the partnership, NBIM acquired a 25 per cent stake in a mixed-use portfolio of predominantly office and retail assets, clustered around Grosvenor Street and Mount Street in London’s Mayfair, for £305.7m.

The £1.2bn portfolio consists of 175 market-rent and long-leasehold buildings, for which it will continue to act as asset, property, and development manager.

Grosvenor, which was advised by Lazard, BCLP, and KPMG in the lead-up to the deal, said it will deploy the funds across the business, including growing its London development pipeline to over £1.3bn and deploying c£1 billion across its lending platform.

Commenting on the deal, NBIM head of UK real estate, Jayesh Patel, said: “We are very pleased to enter a new partnership with Grosvenor in Mayfair. We have confidence in the long-term value creation inherent in the West End and are excited to see that delivered through Grosvenor’s well-respected management.”

Grosvenor CEO, James Raynor, added: “This partnership brings together two deeply aligned, long-term investors who share huge confidence in the future of the West End and London.

“Facilitating inward investment on this scale will enable us to help drive the West End’s competitiveness and appeal as an economic, cultural and retail centre of global significance.”

At the end of the year, occupancy across Grosvenor’s London estate stood at 97 per cent, and new lettings in 2024 achieved, on average, a 14 per cent premium to estimated recovery value (ERV).

The business also recently announced that it had reduced carbon emissions across all scopes by 26 per cent between 2019 and 2023 and driven a 3.7 per cent biodiversity net gain across its portfolio since 2021.

This article originally appeared in our sister publication European Pensions.

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