Norwich Union is launching a European commercial property fund. Through it, investors will be able to invest in office, industrial and retail property, and property-related assets across the European economic area and Switzerland (excluding UK) via a daily priced fund. The main geographic holdings are initially expected to be in France, Germany and Spain.
The Norwich Union European Property Fund will be available to retail investors in the UK through the Norwich Union Portfolio bond, third-party life and pension links and as a retail collective investment. Developed by the fund management arm of Norwich Union parent Aviva, Morley Fund Management, the fund will be managed by Julian Taylor.
“This is an exciting launch”, says Neil Davies, director of marketing investments at Norwich Union. “The fund is unique as it gives retail investors their first ever opportunity to invest in a daily-priced European property fund. This is the first retail fund of its kind in the UK and our research indicates that it will be popular with investors and advisers. We believe that European commercial property is a great investment opportunity and the fund will complement any existing UK commercial property investment. European property returns tend to lag those of UK commercial property, and we anticipate that there is more growth to come.”
“We have a strong pipeline of deals that we are working on and expect to announce the first acquisitions for the fund in the near future,” says Julian Taylor. “There are good areas of performance for skilful managers to discover across Europe and the team at Morley is well placed to exploit these on behalf of our clients.”