MetLife Inc. and Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) formed a new joint venture to buy high quality office properties in major U.S. markets and announced their first acquisition: One Financial Center in Boston. 

The 46-story, five-star office building totaling 1.3 million square feet in the city’s financial district near Boston’s South Station. NBIM purchased its 47.5% share of the asset from seller Beacon Capital, while MetLife increased its current ownership stake by 2.5 percentage points to hold the remaining 52.5% stake. 

NBIM's joint venture with MetLife marks the fund's third US-focused real estate investment platform. MetLife will be the asset manager of the platform. 

With more than 100 years of real estate investment experience, MetLife is one of the largest investors in the industry with $55.1 billion in real estate invested assets, including $43.1 billion in commercial mortgages and $12 billion in equity investments at the end of 2012. 

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is the asset manager for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global. The fund is invested globally in equity, fixed-income and real estate markets. It held assets valued at $810 billion dollars at the end of third quarter 2013.