The fund was suspended in March 2020 as the pandemic hit the UK
The £1bn Janus Henderson UK Property fund may be facing closure as Nuveen has reportedly hired CBRE to independently value the assets in the fund.
The fund, which launched in June 1999, is currently co-managed by Marcus Langlands Pearse and Ainslie McLennan.
The fund was suspended in March 2020 as the pandemic hit the UK, before lifting ten months later as the economy returned to normal. Since the suspension was lifted, £1bn has been withdrawn from the fund.
The fund is a Property Authorised Investment Fund (PAIF) and considers location, tenant strength, lease length and structure, building quality and sustainability considerations when investing.
Oli Creasey, property research analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said that if the fund was wound up, "it would come as something of a surprise, as the fund has made it through the difficult period in 2020 when it was forced to close by new FCA rules and has since produced good returns."
The fund has consistently performed above sector average, returning 12.4% in the last year as compared to 8.3% in its peer group.
However, Creasey said that the returns "are good, not great, and we note that the MSCI IPD property index was up 14.8% over the same 12 months".
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A spokesperson for Janus Henderson noted to Investment Week the current strength in the UK commercial property market, as well as the the ongoing regulatory discussions regarding the liquidity mismatch in daily-dealing physical property funds.
They added that "given this backdrop of uncertainty, Janus Henderson and our property advisers have been exploring various options, including the potential sale of the PAIF's entire property portfolio to a single purchaser."
"In respect of the options, no decision has been taken at this stage. Nevertheless, Janus Henderson is committed to delivering the best available outcome for investors and as such any decision will be wholly determined on what we consider to be in the best interests of our investors."
"We also remain committed to keeping investors informed of developments and expect to be able to provide a further update by the end of March."
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The fund's cash holding at the end of January was 18.5%, with the remaining 81.5% invested in physical property. The fund's primary tenant by income is Amazon, while others in the top ten include Premier Inn and Lidl.
"It is impossible to say exactly what has prompted this decision to wind up the fund, if true. The performance figures, and size of the fund (£1.04bn at Jan-22) are not remarkable, but nor are they remarkably bad," said Creasey.
"If £1bn is a limit below which open-ended property funds find it difficult to operate, then JH will not be the only manager considering their options," he added, pointing to the £600m Colombia Threadneedle property fund and the £1bn M&G fund.
CBRE declined to comment when contacted.
