You may remember our post last July when Brandeaux announced the suspension of its property fund range.

Brandeaux have now announced that they are to wind up six of these property funds to release liquidity in order to meet redemption requests. The Brandeaux Property Funds have been suspended to redemptions and any new investments since 1st July 2013.

At the time, Brandeaux cited uncertainty around the student accommodation market and the new restrictions on the promotion of UCIS as the reasons behind the suspension.

These are open-ended UCIS schemes and it appears that liquidity has been the major issue, i.e. they have not had the liquidity to honour redemptions.

The group said £173m of liquidity has been released through property sales so far for investors in the Ground Rent funds, representing 37% of the total assets.

The student fund remains suspended as Brandeaux seeks various ways to create liquidity for investors. Brandeaux said it has been in various talks over property sales but the timeframe for selling the properties remains “uncertain”.

Brandeaux suspended its funds in 2000 after heavy subscriptions meant it could not find sufficient investment opportunities, and again in 2008 on the back of higher redemptions and insufficient liquidity.

For more information on property funds, liquidity and the new UCIS regulations, please check out our blog Brandeaux, Liquidity, Fund Closures and the New Regulations

All the best,
Luke