M&G to reopen property fund
M&G Investments plans to reopen its £2.1bn Property Portfolio fund next month, more than a year after it gated the fund to redemptions.
The company will reopen the M&G Property Portfolio and its feeder fund at midday on 10 May, saying the fund now has “a suitable liquidity position” for customers looking to sell their investment.
The fund was closed to withdrawals in December 2019. M&G said at the time that it had suffered “unusually high and sustained outflows” which had “coincided with a period where continued Brexit-related political uncertainty and ongoing structural shifts in the UK retail sector have made it difficult for us to sell commercial property”.
M&G Investments plans to reopen its £2.1bn Property Portfolio fund next month, more than a year after it gated the fund to redemptions.
The company will reopen the M&G Property Portfolio and its feeder fund at midday on 10 May, saying the fund now has “a suitable liquidity position” for customers looking to sell their investment.
The fund was closed to withdrawals in December 2019. M&G said at the time that it had suffered “unusually high and sustained outflows” which had “coincided with a period where continued Brexit-related political uncertainty and ongoing structural shifts in the UK retail sector have made it difficult for us to sell commercial property”.
Since then the fund has sold or exchanged on disposals of 38 properties at a combined 0.1% discount to net asset value, leaving cash at 33.2%. Close to 40% of the disposals were retail properties. The fund is now overweight in industrials, and has reduced its exposure to retail to 28.1% from 38.4%.
Announcing the reopening, Laurence Mumford, chair of the fund’s authorised corporate director at M&G Securities Limited, said: “The decision to suspend was taken to protect the interests of all of our investors, enabling the fund manager to sell assets in an orderly fashion. We believe this has preserved value for customers, while also maintaining the integrity and future prospects of the fund.”
M&G has waived 30% of the fund’s annual charge during suspension, and said this will continue until the reopening.
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