UK/EUROPE – London-based PRICOA Property Investment Management, the European arm of New Jersey-based Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI), has restructured its €195m Pan-European Property Unit Trust fund into an open-ended limited partnership as part of its European expansion.

The fund, established in 1973, was previously only available to UK-exempt approved investors but a spokesman for the fund said the investor base needed to be changed if the fund were to continue to grow.

“We decided on a UK- registered limited partnership that not only allowed investments from UK insurance companies but also from other European institutionals. This is where we see our core market developing and the change in structure means we can market the fund through our newly-opened offices in Berlin and Brussels,” he explains.

The fund generally operates through offshore corporate subsidiaries and the new structure will not impact on the tax benefits it enjoys.

Says Richard Plummer, the fund’s manager and PRICOA CEO: “The new structure is euro-denominated and has a ready-assembled portfolio of institutional grade investments. New investors will be attracted by the fund’s tax transparency and quarterly dividends.”

PREI currently has some $11.7bn (€12bn) in institutional assets under management, of which PRICOA manages over €1.5bn.

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