(Adds background, Legal & General)
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Royal London Asset Management
will reopen its suspended Royal London Property Fund and Royal
London Property Trust on Sept. 30, joining several other British
property funds in reopening after a six-month suspension.
Much of Britain's 70-billion-pound ($90 billion) property
fund sector was frozen in March due to uncertainty about
valuations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveyors
lifted that uncertainty warning earlier this month.
Legal & General Investment Management said last
week it was reopening its property funds on Oct. 13, while St
James's Place and Columbia Threadneedle have already
reopened theirs.
Royal London said on its website late on Friday that, if
there were liquidity concerns in its funds, it may need to sell
real estate assets below market value to raise cash.
Other funds have said they have not yet made a decision
about reopening, amid worries that investors may run for the
exits once they get the chance.
Regulators are unhappy about funds which invest in illiquid
assets but allow investors to take their money out frequently.
Many of the funds were also suspended after Britain's vote to
leave the European Union in 2016.
The Financial Conduct Authority last month proposed that
investors in property funds should wait up to six months before
they can get their money back, to avoid a stampede for the exit
leading to widespread suspensions in rocky markets.
($1 = 0.7778 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Simon Jessop and Pravin
Char)
Legal & General (LGEN)
St James's Place (STJ)
