UK - CB Richard Ellis and property derivatives specialists GFI have attempted to cultivate the nascent secondary market in unlisted property funds with the launch of a dedicated portal.

CBRE and GFI's Property Match aims to help buyers and sellers of secondary interests in unlisted property funds arrive at effective and transparent pricing.

There is already a well established secondary market in the private equity funds sector, whereby investors can buy and sell out of closed-ended investment vehicles, but an equivalent has yet to fully develop among closed-ended property funds.

A growing number of institutional investors have looked to sell stakes in property funds as they have come under liquidity and asset allocation pressures, but for the most part have been unwilling to accept the large discounts demanded by potential buyers.

CBRE had seen pricing for more than 15 funds and more than £100m (€113.4m) "firm prices" pass through its trading portal since it was launched on September 1.

"All other markets, whether listed or not, have some form of common pricing portal. Why should property be any different?" asked CBRE Real Estate Finance executive director Paul Robinson.

"As the market moves into a bottoming phase and risk appetite returns, having a pricing window will hasten the recovery process, narrowing bid/offer spreads and ultimately enabling managers to issue new equity."

Phil Clark, chairman of the indirect funds group at the Investment Property Forum said: "This is a very important step for the indirect fund industry towards creating greater transparency and liquidity within the indirect property funds market."

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