The Nebraska Investment Council, which invests on behalf of state employees and retirees, filed to redeem about $153 million from the Trumbull Property Fund, according to a spokesman.
Illinois’s State Universities Retirement System has been trying to get out of the UBS fund since the end of 2017, according to minutes from a December meeting. It’s gotten back $294 million so far but expects that it may take a few years to recoup the remaining $103 million, because “the exit queue has significantly increased,” according to the minutes.
More Redemptions
The issues surrounding investors trying to withdraw from property funds aren’t unique to UBS.
Aviva Plc recently halted withdrawals from two Irish real estate funds with significant retail property holdings for as long as six months under mounting redemption pressure. An Ireland-based property fund run by Zurich Insurance Group AG has experience a recent an increase in net outflows.
In December, M&G Plc’s flagship U.K. property fund was frozen after it struggled to sell assets to meet mounting redemption demands, with potential buyers being scared off by political uncertainty and plunging mall and store values.
“Large investors basically invested in these funds because they were conservative,” said Michael Hirschfeld, a retail broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, adding that now the general attitude is “OK, let’s reduce exposure to retail.”
This story provided by Bloomberg News.