Frozen Aberdeen property fund to offer London office to market

Aberdeen Asset Management has reportedly appointed broker Strutt & Parker to sell a London office property, which is part of a real estate fund suspended from trading.

Bloomberg cited three unnamed people “familiar with the matter” as confirming 10 Hammersmith Grove - a building with a value of £105m - will be offered by the firm.

Aberdeen’s UK property fund has around £3.2bn in assets.

“The fund is now seeking to rebuild its liquidity position,” Aberdeen’s head of UK property pooled funds Gerry Ferguson told Bloomberg.

“A limited number of properties are being marketed and we will seek the highest prices achievable for our investors as is our normal practice.”

Ferguson did not speak directly about the Hammersmith property, however.

Aberdeen put a temporary freeze on withdrawals, and cut the price of the fund by 17% on 6 July, in a bid to slow the rate at which investors were cashing in.

It extended the freeze for another two days on Monday.

Seven funds, worth around £18bn in total, were suspended from trading last week as investors clamoured to cash in their holdings in the wake of the Brexit vote.