Schroders, one of Britain’s biggest property fund managers, has been forced to tell its investors that it is set to miss deadlines for the return of their cash because of the liquidity crisis in the underlying market. Sunday Telegraph
Calls for £100m of redemptions from its £2bn flagship Schroders Exempt Property Unit Trust have forced the fund manager to warn investors that they may not get their money back before Christmas, when the normal three month period expires, raising concerns that liquidity in Britain’s £60bn commercial property fund market is rapidly drying up for all but the most cash-rich of fund managers.
William Hill, Schroders’ head of property, said: 'We have done this as a precaution. It is not a disaster that people cannot get their money back straightaway. We are dealing with the real world and the real estate world has gone into quasi-paralysis. However, none of our clients have complained. They agree that if it is not possible to sell assets at anything other than fire sale prices, we should not sell assets.”