LEGO heirs’ fund manager says future of offices remains unclear

Denmark (April 26): Kirkbi Fund, which manages US$20 billion (RM82 billion) in assets on behalf of the richest member of the LEGO family, said it will take years to see the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global office market, reported Bloomberg.

The fund’s CEO Soren Thorup Sorensen (pictured) told the newswire that the full return to pre-pandemic office life is unlikely to happen in the upcoming few years. Real estate investors are also waiting for fresh leads in managing their respective portfolios.

“It will take a couple of years before we know,” he said during the interview.

Kirkbi is the Kirk Kristiansen family's private holding and investment company founded to build a sustainable future for the family ownership of the LEGO brand.

The fund has built a US$1.4 billion real estate portfolio consisting of mostly office properties in London, Munich, Hamburg, Copenhagen and other global cities. The value of those assets grew about 3% last year. 

Although Sorensen sees that working from home has become a new normal and might impact office demand, Kirkbi’s real estate portfolio valuation in prime locations has remained intact.

“If we look at London, what does it mean if people work from home one or two days a week? That will have some structural effects ... but real estate in attractive locations will continue to have significant value, especially in a low-interest level environment,” he said.

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