Norwich Union has reduced the value of three more property funds today as investors continue to pull their money out of property.
It has now devalued all four of its UK funds, with total assets of £12bn, in an effort to stop the outflow of cash from the funds.
James Pearson, head of fund development at Norwich Union, said that his team was monitoring cash flow on a daily basis, and that after deciding to reduce the value of the £4.4bn Norwich Property Trust by 4.7% yesterday, today they decided to move to try to slow down redemptions in the other three UK trusts.
‘I don’t know if it’s a run on the funds,’ he said, ‘but after the brilliant performance of the last two years we are seeing a correction back to more normal figures.’
Standard Life slashed the value of five of its 14 property funds on Friday, prompting widespread fear that investors were beginning to shun property as an asset class. Pearson said that his team had seen the problem of outflows get worse since Standard Life’s decision.
Norwich Union has reduced the value of the Norwich Property Investment Fund by 5.23%. The Norwich Union unit-linked life fund was reduced by 4%, as was the unit-linked pension fund.
New Star slashed the value of its £2.2bn UK Property Unit Trust yesterday, and Prudential reduced the value of its life and pension property funds in June.
The revaluations are made by switching from the ‘offer’ to the ‘bid’ price, a change from a maximum to a minimum valuation.
Funds take the measure because they are forced to liquidate assets in order to cover redemptions, and the extra expense is used to cover the cost of these liquidations.
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