LUXEMBURG - The Luxemburg-based real estate fund for institutional investors, Sireo Immobilienfonds n°4 SICAV, has awarded BNP Paribas Immobilier a 200 million-euro mandate to be invested on the French market.

The SICAV is worth about one billion euros and was launched by the German company Sireo Real Estate Management GmbH, which manages about 11 billion euros.

The fund has been devised as an investment vehicle for big pension funds, a spokesman for the company told IPE, with a pan-European investment strategy.

Its main investor is the pension fund for the banking sector, BVV, the largest pension fund in Germany. BVV has invested 250 million euros in the Luxemburg-based fund, the spokesman said.

Sireo Immobilienfonds n°4 SICAV is an open fund under the supervision of the Luxemburg regulator CSSF and was launched last May.

BNP Paribas has approached Sireo though Atisreal Muller, the German branch of its subsidiary Atisreal-Auguste Thouard, a spokesman for BNP Paribas Immobilier said.

The mandate is substantially in the hands of three subsidiaries of BNP Paribas Immobilier, he explained.

Atisreal-Auguste Thouard will be in charge of research of properties in France while Comadim will deal with property management. Asset Partenaires will coordinate.