Threadneedle Property Man-agement is tipped to take over the running of merchant bank Lazard Bros’ £130m Property Unit Trust.
Threadneedle, headed by Andrew Strang, is understood to have been chosen ahead of David Hunter’s Argyll Prop-erty Asset Managers in the closely fought contest. The other candidates on the five-strong shortlist were believed to be Gartmore, PDFM and Hypo Bank’s fund management arm, ESN.
Threadneedle was set up in 1994 following the merger of Allied Dunbar and Eagle Star’s property teams, and manages £2bn of property. It does not run a PUT.
Lazard unit holders, pension funds and charities, want the new manager to expand the PUT. But they rejected bids to merge the vehicle with existing funds. Unit holders were in the final stages of approving the transfer to Threadneedle this week.
Lazard has managed the PUT and a much smaller fund, the £17m Lazard Income and Growth property unit trust, since their inception in 1967. Together the funds own around 40 properties split 41% retail, 36% offices and 22% industrial. They have recently been turned round after underperforming.
Neither Threadneedle nor Lazard would comment.
