Dutch pension fund invests EUR 75m in UK mall trust

Dutch pension investor PGGM has announced it is investing about EUR 75 mln in Standard Life Investment's UK Shopping Centre Trust. The investment is based on an agreement between PGGM and SLI, one of the larger managers of real estate funds in Europe, signed in December 2009.

The UK Shopping Centre Trust was launched in 2005 and has built up a portfolio valued at EUR 1.3 bn. The Trust is structured as a closed-ended Jersey Property Unit Trust providing 'expert' investors with access to a sub sector where lot size continues to present a barrier to entry. It has a portfolio of nine prime, dominant UK shopping centres. Key assets include Brent Cross Shopping Centre, London and Churchill Square, Brighton.

The investment objective of the trust is to outperform the shopping centre sub-sector of the IPD universe over a rolling three-year period. This has been achieved over all time periods since launch, according to SLI.

Mathieu Elshout, Senior Investment Manager, PGGM, said: 'This investment gave us immediate and 100% access to an unleveraged portfolio of prime assets in an important sector of the UK commercial property market. While the portfolio is essentially core in nature, the assets are actively managed and the management team demonstrated a deep understanding of the market.

'Standard Life Investments also adheres to our Responsible Investment policy for Real Estate, a policy which addresses PGGM Investments' policy on integrating material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into our real estate investments,' Elshout added.

PGGM has EUR 80 bn of assets of various types under management. SLI's portfolio of assets under management, including real estate, totals almost EUR 168 bn.