SEB Asset Management said on Monday it is postponing the re-opening of its EUR 6.3 bn SEB ImmoInvest open-ended real estate fund to next year as a result of the ongoing debt crisis and its impact on SEB's disposal programme.
SEB Asset Management said on Monday it is postponing the re-opening of its EUR 6.3 bn SEB ImmoInvest open-ended real estate fund to next year as a result of the ongoing debt crisis and its impact on SEB's disposal programme.
The fund manager has sold 14 assets in the past few months, raising its liquidity level to around 21% of the portfolio, or some EUR 1.4 bn. However, SEB said the debt crisis coupled with the recent announcements by leading investors Credit Suisse and DWS that they were respectively postponing the re-opening of one fund (CS Euroreal) and liquidating another (DB Immoflex) have affected SEB's disposal programme, in particular the EUR 1.5 bn Potsdamer Platz package in Berlin. SEB said earlier this year that it was looking to sell a 50% stake in the collection of 19 buildings at Potsdamer Platz.
The decision on how to proceed has been deferred to the upcoming year, the company said in a statement.
'The markets have changed dramatically since the beginning of the year. On behalf of all investors - irrespective of their investment strategies - maintaining the value of their assets is our first priority,' said Barbara Knoflach, CEO of SEB Asset Management.
SEB closed the ImmoInvest fund in May 2010 in response to a flood of redemptions as investors worried about the possible impact of proposed reforms to Germany's financial regulations.
