The £511m (€664m) Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust has been restructured as a semi-open-ended fund to avoid being wound up in two years’ time.
The closed-ended fund, managed by Aberdeen Asset Management, has taken on a “quasi-open-ended” structure, according to fund manager Nick Smith, and had its life extended to 2036.
The fund owns more than 2.5 million sqft of industrial warehouse space on or close to airports in the UK.
Following negotiations between investors and Aberdeen, the fund structure now includes redemption and liquidity provisions, an investor advisory committee and additional flexibility to bring in new third-party capital in the future.
Investors in the fund were represented by Nabarro and were advised by independent consultant John Forbes. Aberdeen were represented by Eversheds and advised by JLL.
Aberdeen also said its investment policy had been “enhanced to allow it to be more versatile”.
The fund is working to deliver more than 400,000sqft of industrial space at UK airports, most notably Heathrow.
“The real estate investment and aviation worlds are materially evolving and AIPUT’s new-generation structure allows it to be quasi-open-ended over its life, and to implement the latest corporate governance,” Smith said.
“These are exciting times for the UK aviation industry, with the recent economic recovery allowing flights, air-cargo volumes and profitability to return to leading hub airports like Heathrow.”
He said the fund’s increased versatility would be “particularly advantageous given the forthcoming Davies Commission Report recommendations and any changes to the UK’s aviation policies in the coming years.”
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