REAL ESTATE - BriTel Fund Nominees, the trustee body for the British Telecom Pension Fund, last week upped its shareholding in real estate company Halladale to just under 4%.

Hamish Galpin of Hermes, which manages the pension fund, said: “We’re a supportive shareholder of the business but there’s really nothing else to report.”

A spokesman for Halladale said: “It isn’t a takeover bid, if that’s what you think. We have shareholders with larger stakes than that.” In May the firm identified the expansion of its institutional investor base as one of the reasons behind its £30m share issue – its third in two years.

The property firm also announced last week that it had acquired Langney shopping centre, on a 12-acre site in the coastal town of Eastbourne, for £26.24m via the acquisition of owner Langney Investments. The acquisition, made with co-investor Bank of Scotland Corporate, reflects a net initial yield of 5%.

Co-investment deals account for more than 80% of Halladale’s assets under management. They include the Halladale Opportunities Fund, co-invested with Kodak pension fund in 2003.

Earlier this year Halladale said it would convert significant segments of its portfolio to REITs from January 2007.