Standard Life Investments and Legal & General Group are joining the list of U.K. real estate managers offering buildings for sale after the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union sparked an increase in redemptions.
The asset managers are joining Henderson Global Investors and Aberdeen Asset Management in moving to sell properties to raise cash. Aberdeen reopened its U.K. Property Fund and feeder trust on Wednesday following a weeklong suspension. That was after redemption requests soared across the industry on concern that Brexit will hurt property prices.
The managers of seven funds, including Standard Life, with about £18 billion ($23.7 billion) of assets suspended trading last week to preserve cash levels and avoid a fire sale of commercial real estate assets. Legal & General, which did not halt redemptions, and Aberdeen cut the value of their funds by at least 15%. The requests will lead to about £5 billion of commercial property sales, Jefferies LLC analyst Mike Prew wrote in a note last week.
Standard Life, the first manager to suspend trading in its £2.7 billion U.K. Real Estate PAIF on July 4, hired broker Jones Lang LaSalle to offer 48-54 Charlotte St. in the Westminster district, a spokeswoman confirmed. The building is valued around £26 million.
L&G will sell Garden House on Throgmorton Avenue in the City of London district, according to a person familiar with the matter. The building is valued around £34 million and JLL will broker the sale, the person said, asking not to be identified because the plan is private. A spokeswoman for L&G declined to comment.
More than £650 million of assets already have been offered by asset managers since the Brexit vote, including two properties from Henderson, people with knowledge of the plan said. Aberdeen Asset Management is offering at least three properties for sale.
“The market may take time to find its level, but I have no doubt that property will continue to play an important part in investors' portfolios,” Aberdeen CEO Martin Gilbert said in a statement on Wednesday. Spokesmen for Henderson and Aberdeen declined to comment on the specific asset sales.
