NETHERLANDS – Pensions management company MN Services says it has entered into a real estate joint venture with US company Fairfield Residential on behalf of two Dutch pension funds.

“The cooperation will be active in both coastal areas in the US, where the joint venture will spend approximately $175m (€145.3m) on the purchase of rented houses. The focus will be on housing complexes with overdue maintenance, which will be repositioned”, it said in a statement.

MN Services will be representing the Dutch Pension Fund for Metalworking and Mechanical Engineering and the TNO company scheme. MN will be the first foreign investor in a joint venture with Fairfield. Insurer Northwestern Mutual will also participate.

According to MN, Fairfield is a private company in the top of housing developers and managers in the US.

MN Services entered into a similar agreement with AMLI Residential from Chicago in 1999 and 2000. More recently it joined forces with AMB Corporation of San Francisco on logistics centres.

MN’s total exposure to American real estate is approximately $700m. It is expecting further growth, mainly via investments in private funds, it added.

The company has been active in the implementation of pensions, board support and asset management for 55 years. With assets under management of €26.5bn, MN is the third largest asset manager of pension funds in the Netherlands.