Aviva Investors has followed Standard Life in suspending trading on its property fund as fears abound about the post-Brexit economy.
Aviva Investors has followed Standard Life (full story here) in suspending trading on its property fund as fears abound about the post-Brexit economy.
Aviva suspended trading on its £1.8bn property fund in light of what it sees as“extraordinary market circumstances”. As such investors will be unable to withdraw their funds.
A spokesman for Aviva Investors said: “The extraordinary market circumstances, which are impacting the wider industry, have resulted in a lack of immediate liquidity in the Aviva Investors Property Trust. Consequently, we have acted to safeguard the interests of all our investors by suspending dealing in the fund with immediate effect.”
Aviva looks set to attempt to sell off property as it looks to increase liquidity in the fund.
According to investment site Trustnet, the Aviva Property Trust holds commercial property assets across the UK.
Roughly a third of its assets were in London and the South East, including offices in the centre of the capital.
It also owns shopping centres in Edinburgh, Manchester and Exeter, and offices in Birmingham.
The move follows warnings from Bank of England governor Mark Carney about the state of the UK economy and property shares are now starting to be hit.
Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Persimmon have all seen declines of around6% on the FTSE 100 and shares in Land Securities are down 4%.
