The Standard Life Investments UK Real Estate Fund – on which trading was suspended this summer following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union – has sold a retail property asset two years after purchase.
Trading in the open-ended fund, a property authorised investment trust (PAIF) backed by institutional and retail investors, was closed two weeks after the Brexit vote.
Standard Life Investments reopened trading last month in the £2.6bn (€3bn) fund.
Deutsche Asset Management today said it bought the fund’s Palace Exchange shopping centre in London’s Enfield district for its grundbesitz europa vehicle.
James Petit, head of real estate for UK and Ireland at Deutsche Asset Management, said: “The investment has good property fundamentals and a high-quality tenant mix.
“We expect it to impact favourably on the fund, providing a well-secured income stream as we increase UK exposure in line with strategy.”
Managed by George Shaw, the SLI fund, launched in 2004, now owns 106 properties spread geographically and by sector, with an average value of £20.6m, according to a September factsheet for the fund.
David Paine, head of global real estate at SLI, told a press briefing in London in September that “we were flooded with offers from opportunistic buyers” in the weeks following the UK’s referendum on 23 June.
The centre had previously formed part of Project Swallowtail, which contained several UK shopping centres and a retail park.
The sale of the fully let asset by SLI comes two years after purchase.
The fund paid £74m at a net 5.25% yield for the property in the third quarter of 2014, according to Savills.
Tenants of the 160,000 sqft asset include H&M, Caffe Nero and Lidl.
