US listed investment manager BlackRock and Deutsche Bank's RREEF division are merging their UK funds to create what they say will be the largest property unit trust in the UK market.
US listed investment manager BlackRock and Deutsche Bank's RREEF division are merging their UK funds to create what they say will be the largest property unit trust in the UK market.
BlackRock UK Property Fund (BUKPF) is merging with the RREEF UK Retail, Office and Industrial Property Funds. The merger - subject to approval by unitholders of RREEF's funds - will see BUKPF grow from from £2.1 bn (EUR 2.5 bn) to £2.4 bn.
The merger will boost BUKPF's exposure to the target sub-sectors of Central London office, retail warehouse, South East industrial and South East office. The RREEF portfolio also contains a number of active asset management opportunities.
BUKPF has returned an annualised performance of 8.8% over the past 20 years and 7.6% annually over the past 15 years.
BlackRock bolstered its UK property team ahead of this transaction by appointing Justin Brown as managing director and BUKPF portfolio manager, Mark Long as director of research and strategy and John Benham as a vice president and asset manager.
