The UK’s 59 largest fund managers added a combined £23bn to the value of their assets in the year to June as net inflows hit record levels.
Data compiled exclusively for Estates Gazette by Property Funds Research shows that improving property values and a return to inflows pushed assets under management up 17% from a low of £129bn in 2009.
According to the Association of Real Estate Funds, net inflows in the year to June were £5.8bn – the highest since its records began in 1998.
The rise in UK assets under management compares with a 16.6% increase in capital values recorded by the IPD over the same time.
The swing to greater growth provides further evidence that fund managers have recovered from the volatile period of fire sales and redemptions.
Aviva retained its position at the top of the table for the seventh year in a row, weighing in with property assets of £18bn at the end of June – a 17% increase on the previous year.
Among the top-10 fund managers, ranked by assets under management, only Hermes Real Estate Investment Management saw the value of its managed assets fall. It dropped by just over 12%.
This was on the back of the loss in April of its contract to manage the Royal Mail Pension Plan’s £1.6bn property portfolio, after more than 27 years.
LaSalle Investment Management, which won the contract, climbed two places into the top five after increasing its assets under management by 43%.
The largest increase was posted by Rockspring Property Investment Management, which added 105% to its AUM, while the largest faller was Invesco Real Estate. It lost 70% from its total after a £700m advisory mandate was taken in-house by a client, according to PFR.
See In Depth, p54, for full details fo the winners and losers among the UK’s largest fund managers
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
