M&G maintains redemption delays on £4.6bn Secured Property fund

A temporary deferral was applied to the institutional vehicle on 1 November after it received redemptions in excess of the fund’s immediately available cash, as a result of some defined benefit pension schemes needing to either raise liquidity or rebalance their portfolios. 

The restrictions to withdrawal requests would allow for an orderly sales of assets to rebuild liquidity, the spokesperson added. 

BlackRock has also deferred Q3 redemptions from its £3.5bn BlackRock UK Property fund, a source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Investment Week on Wednesday (4 January).

The asset manager had previously announced it would limit redemptions for Q2 due at the end of September, and has now deferred Q3 withdrawals that were originally due to be paid at the end of December. 

BlackRock defers Q3 redemptions from £3.5bn UK property fund

Since September, other players including Schroders, Columbia Threadneedle and CBRE have also restricted withdrawals from their institutional UK property funds, as rising interest rates and a gloomy economic outlook drove a significant increase in redemption requests. 

Schroders, Columbia Threadneedle and CBRE are yet to respond to requests for comment regarding the status of the funds’ redemption request limits. 

At the time, the measures imposed by institutional property funds appeared not to be spreading to the retail sector.

On 4 October, abrdn, BlackRock, Canada Life Asset Management, Columbia Threadneedle, Legal and General Investment Management, M&G Investments, Royal London Asset Management and St James’s Place all told Investment Week they had no plans to impose restrictions on their retail open-ended UK property funds.

However, on 14 October, Columbia Threadneedle suspended dealing on its CT UK Property Authorised Investment fund in an attempt to shore up its liquidity. On 21 December 2022, the fund’s board reviewed the dealing suspension and confirmed that it remains in place. 

Retail open-ended property funds avoid liquidity restraints

Royal London Asset Management confirmed its £162.6m Royal London Property fund remains open. abrdn, Canada Life Asset Management, LGIM and St James’s Place have not confirmed any recent changes to redemption request limits on their open-ended UK property funds. 

Rising rates have had a twofold impact on the outflows from UK property funds, with an improved funding ratio reducing the need for high growth assets such as property, and a denominator effect spurred by higher rates on the reverse forcing pension funds to sell down their property assets as their proportion of net asset value increased.