“We already have a strong position in the other Nordic countries and have a clear ambition to be more actively present in Norway. This will involve both increased investments and strengthening of our local expertise. We are therefore bringing in more competent people, who will give us a stronger position in logistics, management and housing construction, in addition to generally increased capacity,” says Jens Petter Hagen, partner and general manager of NREP's Norwegian office.

Most of the new hires are in place by June, and according to Hagen they will be important pieces in the strategic investment in Norway. NREP has recently signed tenants such as Helthjem.no and Movement AS, as well as a larger Nordic logistics company that will move into parts of a new building at Vestby that will total about 27,000 sqm. NREP has also taken over Coop's central warehouse at Gardermoen and have agreed on a purchase agreement for another logistics property. With the new hires, NREP is ready for both higher investment activity and a more active approach to housing development.

“We are very proud to have these eight on the team. They provide us with great knowledge about property management, development and regulation, something we have been looking for. In addition, they have very good experience on the Norwegian real estate market, which has been an important criterion,” says Hagen.

The first in this autumn was Jannick Huseth, who will lead NREP's housing investments. He came from Solon Eiendom, where he has worked with real estate development for the past four years. Huseth also has experience from, among others, Pareto and CBK Utvikling, and brings extensive expertise in both property management and development.

In April, Jacob Sandberg Gjems-Onstad started in the position as development manager for Logicenters, which is NREP's brand within logistics real estate. Sandberg Gjems-Onstad has a master's degree in specialization in real estate development and management, and has for the past six years worked with logistics project management in Bulk. In addition to this, he has experience from, among others, Veidekke, the AF group and Selvaag.

Kristian Aarflot-Nyrud will start at NREP in June. Aarflot-Nyrud will be responsible for management of NREP's properties in Norway. He comes from the position of manager and marketing manager for hotels in Ragde, where he has worked for the past 12 years. He also has experience in management from the Basale Group, Verdispar Securities and Christiania Securities.

In the spring of 2020, Harald Haakonsen from Nordanö was hired in the investment team, and shortly afterwards Ruben Krantz Kringstad became part of the Logicenters team.

From the autumn, Isabel Johansen will take over as controller. She joins Arctic Business Management, where she has been responsible for the start-up of real estate syndicates arranged by Arctic. In addition to Isabel, the investment team will be further strengthened with two analysts; Jonas Snefjellå Løvås and Vebjørn Antonio Solstad.

“We have brought in qualified and skilled people, who will strengthen us considerably in the Norwegian market. We are very pleased with that,” says Jens Petter Hagen.