UK insurer Standard Life is set to launch two new real estate funds worth £2.2bn (e3.2bn). The Standard Life Investments Shopping Centre Trust will be a shopping centre fund with £1.4bn of assets and the Standard Life Investments Retail Park Fund is to be a retail park fund,with £800m of assets. The funds are set to grow to £2bn and £1.5bn respectively.
The funds will be structured as closed-ended Jersey unit trusts with a 10-year life (but with an option to extend) and will be launched at the end of this month if board approval is given. Unusually, investors will be given the option of buying ungeared or 50% geared units.
The shopping centre fund will be seeded with 10 UK shopping centres, including Brent Cross in London and the Churchill Centre in Brighton. The retail park fund will be seeded with either 10 or 11 UK retail parks. All the properties will be transferred to the fund from the Standard Life with-profits fund, which will retain a majority stake.
Standard Life would not comment on the plans but said: “We constantly look at a range of options.”

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