Morgan Stanley's P2 fund has sold four properties for EUR 180 mln, thereby boosting the fund's liquidity before it lifts the ban on redemptions at the beginning of November.

Morgan Stanley's P2 fund has sold four properties for EUR 180 mln, thereby boosting the fund's liquidity before it lifts the ban on redemptions at the beginning of November.

The fund has sold a 24-storey residential tower, Draycott Park, in Singapore, to Alpha Investment Partners for around EUR 91 mln. In addition, the fund has sold Arcueil, an office property in Paris for around EUR 77.5 mln. The fund has also sold two logistics properties - Hardwareweg and Soesterberg in Amersfoort - in the Netherlands for EUR 11.2 mln. Together, after deductions, including taxes, the sales generated around EUR 85 mln, according to Morgan Stanley.

In addition, fund managers are examining the potential sales of other properties and negotiations with potential buyers will continue, Morgan Stanley said in the statement today.

Morgan Stanley announced earlier this month that it would reopen its P2 Value real estate fund on 1 November, putting an end to a ban on redemptions that has been in place since the banking crisis erupted in the autumn of 2008. It cited an improving property climate as the driver behind lifting the ban.

According to the German Investment and Asset Management Association (BVI), the P2 fund has had inflows of EUR 338 mln so far this year. Several other property funds still have a freeze on redemptions, including funds managed by DEGI, AXA Immoselect and Credit Suisse, according to figures from the BVI.

Germany's 46 open-ended property funds had EUR 88 bn of AUM at end-July, according to the BVI. Of this, funds will a ban on redemptions hold EUR 24.75 bn of AUM.