Aberdeen Asset Management delayed the reopening of its £3.2 billion ($4.6 billion) U.K. property fund for another two days after two unidentified investment firms requested the extension.
“Given the exceptional circumstances and specific requests we have received from two large platforms, we believe it is appropriate to allow a further two days for remaining investors to be contacted in the interests of treating all customers fairly,” CEO Martin Gilbert said in a statement Monday.
U.K. property funds with about £18 billion of assets froze redemptions last week as investors sought to leave illiquid real estate holdings in the aftermath of Britain's shock decision to leave the European Union. Investors are pulling money as analysts warn that London office values could fall by as much as 20% within three years of the country leaving the EU.
A lot of people who were looking to get their money back are withdrawing those requests, Mr. Gilbert said in an earlier interview with Bloomberg. “We still have about £500 million of liquidity,” he said. The intention was to reopen the fund Monday, he said at the time.
Mr. Gilbert said outflows accelerated from almost zero before Standard Life Investments halted trading of its £2.9 billion U.K. real estate fund on July 4 and peaked at about £150 million on July 6. Aberdeen initially suspended trading of the fund until Monday after cutting its value by another 17% to give investors the weekend to reconsider their sell orders. It had earlier cut the value by 3.75%.
“We took the view that one of our obligations was to provide liquidity to our holders and we got a valuation done” on a stressed scenario, Mr. Gilbert said in the interview. “We are taking a cautious view; we still have to see how much liquidity we have.”
