The EUR 267 mln Westbury Property Fund is to sell off about 90% of its property portfolio to focus on its ports business and development projects. The proposed sale, still subject to shareholders' approval, will involve 20 to 22 assets, ranging from multi-let offices, high-street and out-of-town retail to industrial assets spread throughout the UK.

The EUR 267 mln Westbury Property Fund is to sell off about 90% of its property portfolio to focus on its ports business and development projects. The proposed sale, still subject to shareholders' approval, will involve 20 to 22 assets, ranging from multi-let offices, high-street and out-of-town retail to industrial assets spread throughout the UK.

The move follows 'the repositioning of the company as a commercial property and ports business' in August 2006, Westbury said in a press release. The London-listed closed-end fund will focus on its venture portfolio, including a mixed-use development in Liverpool, a retail warehouse in Gateshead, north-eastern England, a 20,234 m2 site in Hertfordshire, and a health and fitness centre in Hull, on the east coast.

Westbury's manager Ben Browne-Clayton said that the disposal is related to changed investment restrictions and that it anticipates the approach of the top of the market in the UK.

'Essentially, we are selling these properties because we are approaching the top of the market and now is probably a good time to get out. In August we changed the investment restrictions so that we can acquire asset-backed property businesses', he said. 'This means that the fund will not be exposed to too much risk and will have access to high earning investments with a short holding period', Clayton told Citywire.