REAL ESTATE - The Bank of England’s pension fund has acquired almost 6.7% of Henderson Global Property Investors, the fund manager.

The central bank acquired the shareholding – the company’s largest – via the Securities Management Trust, the nominee for holding investments on behalf of the bank’s customers.

Its pension fund does not comment on investment decisions or strategy. However, a spokeswoman suggested the increase did not indicate an automatic upgrade for its property allocation.

The pension fund’s real estate allocation has remained at 5.5% over the past two years. The spokeswoman declined to comment on whether it would remain at this level but said the fund was interested in “a broad range of pooled investment vehicles” and investments in quoted property shares.

Earlier this month, Europe’s largest pension fund, the Netherlands’ ABP, acquired $30m 10% of the units in Henderson’s CASPAR fund. CASPAR is a global mixed real estate fund with property assets of £829m.

Henderson Global Property invests both in direct property funds and real estate equities, including segregated mandates and pooled funds. It has just over €11bn in assets under management.