Columbia Threadneedle Suspends Dealing On Property Fund Over Liquidity Issues

In a statement, Colombia Threadneedle said this decision was taken "due the amount of cash in the Fund reducing to a level where future redemption requests would not be able to be met until an orderly sale of assets has completed".

The suspension came into effect from noon on 10 October and means investors will be unable to buy or sell shares in the CT UK PAIF or its feeder fund until it is lifted.

Columbia Threadneedle's other retail property funds remain open and are unaffected at present.

UK property funds impose liquidity limits - reports

This comes the same week that Schroders and BlackRock, along with Threadneedle, also imposed imposed redemption limits on some property funds as liquidity amongst property funds became scarce once again.

Property funds have come under scrutiny in recent years after several high profile incidents of them failing to return client's capital when requested. Regulators have requested the suitability of the product given the mismatch between the length of time needed to sell property assets and having a structure which allows frequent withdrawals. 

This round of suspensions and restrictions is the third wave in five years of property funds struggling to return cash to investors.

UK economy contracts by 0.3% in August

In 2016, after the Brexit vote and 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 selloff, there were widespread suspensions across the open-ended property market and while most funds remain open for now, Fitch Ratings warned for a snowballing effect.

In a note put out on 11 October, it said: "Contagion risk has been contained so far, but increasing redemption requests may cause some funds to make forced sales, pushing down asset values."

It added that "this could lead to knock-on effects for other funds, through weaker returns, potentially triggering more widespread withdrawals," something the International Monetary Fund had noted earlier in the month.

 

RECENT NEWS

When The Wave Turns

Why Retirement Investing Is Moving Towards Resilience Jeremy Grantham’s latest market warnings have revived an old tru... Read more

Gyrostat Capital Management: July Retirement Portfolio Resilience Assessment

The Market Is Currently Presenting an Opportunity to Strengthen Retirement Portfolio Resilienc... Read more

The Invisible Risk That Decides Your Retirement

Why how investors behave matters more than what markets do and what disciplined port... Read more

Gyrostat Capital Management: The Missing Allocation In Retirement Portfolio Construction?

For decades, retirement portfolios have largely been constructed using combinations of growth assets a... Read more

When The Gate Comes Down

A Stress Test Rather Than a ScandalApollo Debt Solutions is not a blow-up story. It is something arguably more instructi... Read more

What If The Investment Industry Is Benchmarking The Wrong Things?

  Investment management is built around benchmarking.  Fund managers compare themselves a... Read more