UK – UK local authority Tower Hamlets’ pension fund is to switch its 40 million (62.6 million euro) property allocation to a property unit trust run by Schroder Property Investment Management.

The move represents a loss for incumbent Royal London Asset Management.

Schroder Property Investment Management said in a news release that the east London borough of Tower Hamlets is to sell its direct portfolio and switch its property allocation to the 1.2 billion pound (1.9 billion euro) Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust, or SEPUT.

It added that the changeover will take place over the next three to six months. Schroders will work with Royal London “on the realisation of the existing assets, and reinvestment into SEPUT units”.

Schroder Property Investment Management managing director William Hill said: “The diversification benefits and liberation from the management issues associated with direct ownership make property unit trusts a very attractive option for property investors with property portfolios of under 100 million pounds (156.5 million euros) in size.”

Last week Royal London won a mandate to run a 130 million pound (204 million euro) UK non-government portfolio for the West Midlands Metropolitan Authority’s four billion pound (6.3 billion euro) pension fund.

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