Henderson Global Investors has put a number of properties from its CASPAR fund on the market as a restriction on sales from the vehicle comes to an end.
The fund manager has put the portfolio known as Polaris on sale with an asking price of £58.5m, reflecting a yield of 8.5%.
It comprises six office buildings and one student housing block, in towns including Oxford and Kingston.
Separately it is also close to selling a Brentford industrial park Pheonix Park, for around £16.5m to Royal London Asset Management.
Henderson had previously been unable to sell more than 13% of the £465m fund’s assets in one year, but on Monday confirmed that the restriction had expired.
The lapse of the condition comes nine months after the fund sought a resolution from lenders to lift the restriction.
Lenders approved the move but it was never implemented.
A spokesperson for Henderson said: “At the start of this year, the fund sought to have a resolution passed to say that it would be allowed more than 13% if that was needed, but that resolution was never pushed through because it wasn’t needed and now the condition has expired.”
In January, Henderson also asked investors to vote on a loan-to-value waiver for the commercial mortgage-backed securities secured against the fund’s assets.
Approval was not given.
The CASPAR vehicle, which includes office, retail and industrial property throughout England and Scotland, originally had a debt facility of £435m and a mezzanine loan of £56m, with the larger facility provided and then securitised by Royal Bank of Scotland in 2004.
The fund had gross assets of around £800m at launch in 2005, but the value of the portfolio had fallen so that in January its LTV ratio stood at 86% against a covenant of 75%.
The fund, which is managed by Martin Payne and is Henderson’s largest balanced UK property fund, has a termination date in 2012.
Payne said: “We are looking at targeted strategic disposals.
Because we can’t buy into the fund, it is an asset management intensive fund, which results in sales.”
NB Real Estate and Drivers Jonas Deloitte are advising on the sales.
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
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