UK - The real estate investment manager CBRE Investors will launch a specialist UK property fund next week, targeting investments from defined contributed (DC) pension schemes.

CBRE is seeking to raise more than £1bn (€1.2bn) in total for this new open-ended fund, which will be the first one to be run by an investment manager focused mainly on real estate.

The fund has been created to answer the high demand from pension investors to invest in a specialist property fund.

The CB Richard Ellis UK Property fund, which will be a tax-efficient vehicle for UK property investors, has been designed to meet the needs of DC pension investors under FSA supervision.

It is also a non-UCITS retail scheme (NURS), which is daily priced and traded.

CBRE will invest mainly in physical properties, but will also look at property equities and cash products.

This new facility also has the capability to take in portfolios of direct property assets from mature defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, looking to exit property in an orderly manner, through the liquidity in the fund.

CBRE senior director Nick Preston said: "The fund matches DB pension schemes liabilities, as they are looking for a good exposure to direct property in the UK and want to invest in long-term assets."

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