Aviva Investors has suspended dealing on its £1.8bn property fund, becoming the second asset manager to take action in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Standard Life suspended trading on its £2.7bn UK Real Estate Fund yesterday following a flood of redemption requests after the EU referendum result.
Meanwhile M+G Investments says it has made a fair value adjustment to its £4.6bn property fund and is monitoring the situation closely.
An Aviva spokesperson said: “The extraordinary market circumstances, which are impacting the wider industry, have resulted in a lack of immediate liquidity in the Aviva Investors Property Trust.
“Consequently, we have acted to safeguard the interests of all our investors by suspending dealing in the fund with immediate effect.
“Suspension of dealing will give Aviva Investors greater control in managing cashflows and conducting orderly asset sales in order to meet our obligations to investors wishing to redeem their holdings.”
From yesterday: Standard Life halts UK fund redemptions
From 6th July: Property fund redemptions: is the end nigh
Aviva has experienced higher than usual volumes of requests to redeem, leading to a lack of immediate liquidity.
Income payments to existing investors will not be affected.
The move mirrors that made by fund managers in 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which resulted in some funds being closed for years as those managing funds struggled to return capital when faced with depressed asset values.
Aviva closed its £91m European Property Fund for dealing on November 4, 2008, only reopening it 13 months later.
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