UK - Schroder Property's multi-manager business has agreed to seed a new UK real estate fund managed by Mayfair Capital Investment Management.

Schroders, which runs multi-manager programmes for a number of UK pension funds, has committed £100m (€117m) of client money and alignment equity to the new open-ended, Jersey-domiciled Mayfair Capital Property Unit Trust.

The core/core-plus fund will be managed by newly appointed director Robert Palmer, who joins Mayfair from Rockspring Property Investment Managers, where he was chief investment officer and fund director of the Hanover Property Unit Trust.

The fund will target lot sizes in the UK in the region of £5m-10m, a segment of the market in which Mayfair has been very active.

Palmer said: "This new fund represents a great opportunity to take advantage of current market conditions.

"With a core/core-plus strategy, we will be acquiring assets with income growth potential, together with more entrepreneurial 'added value' opportunities, both directly and through joint venture."

Graeme Rutter, head of UK property multi-manager at Schroders, said: "The creation of this fund is just one example of the benefits our clients get from our being able to leverage off the depth and strength of our property multi-manager platform."

Palmer's former fund, the Rockspring Hanover PUT, last week acquired the freehold interest in a London office building for £52.2m.

Fox Court in London's West End was bought from Prudential Assurance Company at a net initial yield of 7.4%.

Rockspring also announced it had acquired two real estate assets on behalf of the Cheshire Pension Fund.

The fund manager acquired Welcome Break Services in Derbyshire on behalf of the local authority pension scheme for £12.3m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.4%, and 60 Queen Street retail unit in Cardiff for £3.3m, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.8%.

Rockspring also acquired the Ash & Birch Industrial Estate in Swindon for its TransEuropean IV fund for £7.2m, taking the value of its recent transactions to almost £75m.
 

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