BlackRock’s long-lease fund has reached £300m (€408m) with the purchase of a UK office asset.

The investment manager said it has bought the RAC control centre in Bristol from the National Grid Pension Fund (NGPF) for £24.2m.

Aerion Fund Management sold the asset as part of NGPF’s ongoing divestment programme.

BlackRock established a long-lease property strategy for six pension funds in 2013, at a time when investment managers were scrambling to launch the next generation of funds.

An initial £250m was raised for the fund at a time of growing interest in secure-income, inflation-linked property strategies.

BlackRock, along with AXA Real Estate, was one of the first companies to launch a long-lease strategy to compete with large, long-established funds managed by the likes of Standard Life Investments and M&G Investments.

Geoffrey Shaw, BlackRock portfolio manager said that with bond yields at record lows, institutional investors need to consider ”new sources of ‘secure income’ that offer a higher return potential but still allow them to meet long-dated liabilities”.

”Against this backdrop, many are looking beyond traditional bond investments to alternative investments such as real estate,” Shaw said.

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