Aviva Investors is accelerating its strategy to dispose of non-core assets by putting £400m of assets up for sale.
The disposals form part of chief executive Ed Casal’s thesis to get rid of properties outside of all but the most dominant of the UK’s core towns and cities and increase funds’ average asset size.
The properties predominantly range from £5m-£25m across a range of sectors and are being sold through a variety of brokers.
The process is being overseen by Gary Sherwin, the company’s head of UK investment transactions.
The company had a plan to dispose of £1.5bn of assets in the UK this year that do not fit with its strategy and is already around half way through.
Casal announced Aviva’s strategy of shifting from “commodity” assets to “places where people can live, learn, work and play” at EG’s public-private partnerships at MIPIM in March.
At the time, he said “Simply, the real estate sector houses the economy and we are taking a much more concerted and focused effort, thinking about where the economic engines are going to be.
“We are cautious on London but we will be back in when the time is right… very positive on industrial in London and in the Midlands, but also focused on Manchester, Birmingham [and Cambridge].”
The £1.2bn Aviva Investors Property Trust, which closed for redemptions for five months last year following the Brexit vote, is selling New Malden Retail Park near Kingston for £20m through Savills. It is also selling Bretton Shopping Park in Peterborough through Wilkinson Williams for £18m.
The fund manager is also focusing its sales strategy on the Friends Life Aviva Investors Property Trust, which has an average lot size of £4m. It is selling a £50m mixed portfolio of eight assets through Allsop.
The sales come on the back of similar processes that Aviva has undertaken since Casal took the reigns in 2015, cleaning up its book by disposing of distressed or underperforming assets.
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Additional reporting by David Hatcher
