UK
Property fund managers in demand
9 February 2006
Guess what, following Gordon Brown’s go-ahead to Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits), a tax efficient way of investing in property, fund management groups are piling into property.
This week saw the announcement of two new property funds. Aberdeen Property Investors, the property arm of Aberdeen Asset Management, said it had raised €624bn to create Europe’s largest property fund of funds and would launch two more property funds this year. Meanwhile, Legal & General said it will launch its first commercial property trust for retail investors.
Michelle Turner, a headhunter at search firm Hanson Green, says interest in property funds is being matched by a commensurate interest in property fund managers. “We’ve seen a lot of demand for property fund managers in the past six months,” she says.
Turner says there is the usual dearth of good calibre: “People moving into this sector need to know about property – that means a background in surveying, estate management, or real estate corporate finance.”
