Four decades, on the record.

Lars-Erik Magnusson, a native of Ludvika, Sweden, began his career in the 1970s buying and selling construction equipment, then importing construction vehicles. His first property transaction was a warehouse he built for his own business — sold soon after completion — and from the late 1970s he concentrated increasingly on acquiring, developing and selling real estate in Sweden.

In 1985 he moved to the Netherlands, convinced that the Dutch commercial property market had for years been undervalued. He set out to find a single transaction of EUR 15–20 million to acquire with partners. Instead, in December 1985, Larmag acquired a far larger portfolio — the Ariel Bêta portfolio — for EUR 82.7 million, together with a Swedish institutional investor. It comprised office buildings in prime locations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Frankfurt and Paris. Larmag divested the Frankfurt and Paris properties and sold the Dutch part to a large Dutch investment company in October 1986, realising a substantial profit.

Encouraged by the success of Ariel Bêta, Larmag acquired a controlling interest in Pronam N.V., listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange — at the time a company with shareholders' equity of EUR 1.4 million. At the beginning of 1987 Larmag placed all of its recently acquired property, worth EUR 78.2 million, into Pronam, making it the basis for future investment.

During 1987, approximately 740,000 new shares were issued at EUR 56.4 to part-finance acquisitions totalling EUR 159.1 million — among them two of the three Rotterdam Europoint towers and the Rembrandtpark building in Amsterdam. By the end of 1987 Pronam's total assets had risen to EUR 272.2 million, a portfolio of 350,000 m² producing EUR 24.5 million in annual rent.

By mid-1988 Pronam shares had risen to EUR 70.9. Larmag opened negotiations to sell the company to a Swedish investment group, and in the summer of 1988 the sale closed at a total value of EUR 283.6 million — a 60% return on shareholders' equity in a single year.

In the summer of 1987, Larmag acquired 100% of a Dutch investment company, renamed Dala Holding N.V., assembling some 60,000 m² of prime office space, mostly in Amsterdam. Further buildings in Amsterdam and Brussels were sold at a substantial profit in 1989.

Larmag then looked beyond mainland Europe. In the spring of 1989 Dala Holding acquired three large office buildings — 375 Hudson Street in New York City, and 525 West Monroe Street and 222 North LaSalle Street in Chicago — for a total of US$630 million and 300,000 m² of lettable space, believed at the time to be one of the largest US real estate transactions by a European investor, and featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in May 1989. Dala also acquired prime property in London's West End at 16–18 Connaught Place, and the Southland Center in Dallas — some 93,000 m² of office space and a 500-room hotel.

In January 1990 part of Dala Holding was sold to an institutional investor for EUR 422.7 million, and the remaining properties were sold two years later for EUR 500 million.

In mid-1988 Larmag acquired the Head Post Office in Amsterdam from the Dutch PTT — one of the largest historic buildings in the old city, directly opposite the Royal Palace on Dam Square. Completed in 1899 in neo-gothic style by the government architect Cornelis Hendrik Peters, it was transformed between 1990 and 1992 into a state-of-the-art shopping centre at a cost of approximately EUR 32 million.

The completely rotten foundation was replaced and almost the whole interior refurbished. Two new atriums were created either side of the main hall, separated by bridges adjoining the galleries, and the glass-domed roof was enlarged to bring in daylight — the central space melting into one large open volume around which the shops are arranged. The entrance was widened and made accessible with new steps, an escalator and a lift.

A recession, and a name

As the renovation finished in 1992, recession hit Dutch retail and tenants were scarce. Larmag opened franchise stores under its own management so the centre would be full at its grand opening, and Lars-Erik Magnusson persuaded the Mayor of Amsterdam to put Sunday trading — then not permitted — to the city council, which passed on a deciding vote. The centre opened on a Sunday to a large turnout. It was named Magna Plaza after Magnusson; the property, and the tram stop in front, still carry the name. Magna Plaza remained privately owned by Larmag until it was sold to Probus Estates in 1997.

In 1992 Larmag established Larmag Energy N.V. to acquire producing oil concessions and to handle crude oil and products under its own long-term contracts, taking over the assets, contracts and experienced staff of the trading house Scanoil — a former Swedish company once owned by AB Volvo.

Seeking upstream production, in 1993–94 Larmag acquired — through its subsidiary Larmag Energy Assets Ltd. — a 50% interest in a joint venture with the Turkmenistan state oil and gas company. The venture's Block II, a 950 km² concession in the southern Caspian Sea near Cheleken, held the Lam and Zhdanov fields, with reserves greater than 500 million barrels of oil and 2.8 trillion cubic feet of gas. Larmag was the first foreign company in history to operate an offshore oil concession in the Caspian Sea, under a 25-year contract, with a fleet of 24 vessels operated by Larmag Tankers.

After an export ban by the Turkmen government in 1996 made a planned stock listing impossible, Larmag sold its remaining interest in the Cheleken concession to Dragon Oil PLC in 1997 — a concession that would remain Dragon Oil's principal asset, valued at around £4 billion in 2015.

In 1997 Larmag acquired a major interest in Premier Land Plc, a small London-listed real estate company, and contributed Magna Plaza in exchange for newly issued shares. The company was renamed Probus Estates PLC and restructured around cash-generative property. Across 1997 and 1998 it acquired Dutch office property for approximately EUR 100 million and became cash-flow positive for the first time. In 1999 it sold its Premag Holding subsidiary — including Magna Plaza — for EUR 127.5 million.

In 2000, Probus acquired five Dutch commercial properties for around EUR 35 million and the Casino de Mallorca for EUR 22 million, including 52,000 m² of prime seaside land. In 2001 it added a Santa Ponsa shopping-centre development and a 2 million m² residential development site west of Barcelona. In 2003, Lars-Erik Magnusson resigned from the management of Probus and sold his shareholding, following a difference of opinion with another major shareholder over strategy.

From early 2004, Larmag researched the German market and concluded it was undervalued and attractive. Between 2005 and 2008 the group acquired more than 135 properties across Germany — a total lettable area of approximately 710,000 m² — held in three diversified, nationwide portfolios (Alpha, Gamma and Delta) of office, retail, residential and logistics assets. In its 2007 sales memorandum, UBS recorded the portfolio as generating consolidated net rental income of EUR 60.2 million per annum.

Property management was run from Larmag's Düsseldorf office in close cooperation with the asset-management team in Amsterdam. The total value of real estate acquired in Germany between 2005 and 2008 was approximately EUR 1 billion.

From 2008, Larmag built know-how in renewable energy — particularly solar in Spain — and established Larmag Energy Group, evaluating large-scale projects across Europe before stepping back amid uncertainty over feed-in tariffs in Spain and Italy. In 2011 the group agreed to acquire a Swiss commercial real estate portfolio, sold the following year at a profit of CHF 41 million.

In 2013 Larmag returned to the Dutch market — beginning with a 12,755 m² Amsterdam office portfolio — convinced once again that the Netherlands was undervalued. In 2015 it set up a Luxembourg vehicle and issued a real estate bond to fund further Dutch acquisitions, and through to 2021 continued to build a commercial portfolio for long-term holding in high-yielding locations where it could apply its asset-management experience.

Evaluating development opportunities across Europe, in April 2022 Larmag acquired 138 hectares of prime development land in Sesimbra, approximately 25 km south of Lisbon. By December 2022 it had received allotment licences for the entire development and the requested building permits.

The development will comprise hotels, golf courses and more than 120,000 m² of residential space — a unique and sustainable residential, commercial and touristic destination within commuting distance of the Portuguese capital. Development commenced in 2023, and Larmag is on site building the infrastructure.