UBS raises further €60m for UK open-ended fund

UBS Asset Management's Global Real Estate – UK said on Friday that it has raised a further £45 mln (€60 mln) for its UBS Triton Property Fund, an open-ended fund which invests in core commercial property in the UK.

The capital raise, which was oversubscribed, follows a strategic repositioning of the Fund's portfolio and brings the total gross asset value of the fund to £835 mln.

The proceeds of the capital raise will be invested into pre-committed asset management initiatives as well as new investments.

The Fund's portfolio and strategy was restructured following the appointment of Howard Meaney as UBS Triton's Portfolio manager in 2012, who leads a newly assembled strong management team. This strategy has resulted in the Fund outperforming its benchmark on a one and two-year basis with total returns of 13.7% and 16.3% per annum, respectively.

UBS Triton owns a high-quality portfolio with a focus on dominant multi-let real estate assets which are in growth locations. 75% of the portfolio is invested in core assets with the remaining 25% in well-located tactical holdings which have embedded asset management opportunities. 58.0% of the Fund's assets are located in the South East UK and the portfolio is predominantly weighted to London and South East Offices (30.9%), Industrials (26.7%) and Retail Warehouses (25.5%). The Fund's average leverage stands at 6.33%, with no more than 10% permitted.

The pre-committed asset management opportunities include Grand Junction Retail Park in Crewe, the student accommodation developments of Roman House at Hanover Square in Newcastle Upon Tyne and Kepier Court in Durham, the Imperium office building in Reading and the Knollys & Stephenson House office in Croydon.

'The success of this capital raising, which was oversubscribed and undertaken at a premium to NAV, is a thorough endorsement of all the hard work that the UBS team has put in to restructure the portfolio and a testament to the potential of the high quality underlying assets,' said Howard Meaney, head of Global Real Estate – UK and Portfolio Manager for UBS Triton.