Saxo Bank, a Danish-based firm, is forming a property investment company, Saxo Property, which will launch closed-ended funds for high net worth clients and institutional investors.

Jesper Damborg and Claus Klostermann, both formerly at Denmark’s Property Group, will respectively become CEO and managing director of the new firm. Flemming Schandorff, the former chief operating officer of ISS, a Copenhagen-headquartered provider of facility services, will carry out a similar role at Saxo Properties.

The first fund, which will run for five years, will invest directly in residential, office and retail property in Copenhagen and is scheduled to close in three months.

The first fund would have invested in London property, but prices went up too much over the last six months and are now too expensive, Mr Damborg told WealthBriefing. The same kind of opportunities which previously existed in London are now available in Copenhagen, where prices are at around their 2001 levels, and “there is an open window to do some very interesting property investments now,” he added.

The firm intends to establish around four to five funds over the next couple of years, and will keep its eye on the London market for a better time. It is also planning to launch a Swedish property fund, as, like the London market, it is very liquid and transparent, said Mr Damborg.

The funds will target a minimum size of £30 million (around $45.1 million), but have the capacity to grow much bigger, he said. 

The important thing about the firm’s approach is the real-estate background of its key employees, said Mr Damborg.

“We are financial people, but we are also real estate people. Property investment has often been about financial engineering, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”