Royal London suspends two property funds

Investment manager Royal London has suspended dealings in its Royal London Property Fund and Royal London Property Trust with effect from March 31, it said in a notice on its website.

Over 17 billion pounds ($21.03 billion) in UK property fund assets were frozen last month, as managers said it was not possible to price the funds' assets due to market volatility.

"In light of the exceptional circumstances in the market and material uncertainty in the valuation of the property fund's assets, we have decided it is in the best interests of all shareholders/unitholders in the Funds to temporarily suspend dealing in the Funds with immediate effect," Royal London said.

Unlike the other frozen property funds, the Royal London Property Fund only allows investors to take their money out monthly, rather than daily. It had just over 400 million pounds in assets under management at end-November, according to Morningstar data.

Copyright Reuters, 2020

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