Standard Life Pan European Property Recovery Fund

Standard Life Investments, one of the largest property fund managers in Europe, has announced the forthcoming launch of the Standard Life Investments Property Recovery Fund LPI, a closed-ended pan European property recovery vehicle aimed at the advisory market for investors who can commit a minimum investment of £50,000.

The fund, which will take the structure of a five year limited partnership (LP), represents the fund manager's first LP offering to the advisory market and complements the mix of property funds Standard Life Investments has available to retail investors.

Managed by seasoned property fund manager, Will Fulton, it aims to deliver over the life of the fund, an annualised return of 12% net of taxes, charges and other liabilities. It will consist of an opportunistic and focused portfolio of pan-European (including UK) commercial property investments.

Standard Life Investments aims to raise up to £75m in equity for the fund and through borrowings will seek to leverage the property portfolio by 60% to target a gross asset value of £180m.

Barry MacLennan, Investment Director, Standard Life Investments, said: "The fund has been specifically structured to provide professional investors with the opportunity to capitalise on our expectations for a recovery in property market returns. On a range of measures, we believe that commercial property is currently attractively priced and we would expect it to be of particular interest to tax-exempt investors, for example via SIPP and SSAS products.

"We have already generated a strong track record in providing institutional investors with successful limited partnership investment solutions - take for example our E728.5m European Property Growth Fund (as at 30/09/09) - so I have every confidence that the advisory market will view this as a similarly exciting proposition."