The collapse in property values in London has created a crisis in property funds. M&G Investments blocked withdrawals from its UK property fund as it seeks to distance itself from the troubled manager. Back on June 3, 2019, the asset manager wrote to clients of the M&G UK Property fund to inform them it had placed a temporary restriction on customers from taking out their money for up to six months. Restrictions were also placed on certain withdrawals from the Prudential UK Property fund, which feeds into the M&G fund affected about 65% of customers in the fund. Both funds were only available for long-term institutional investors such as pension funds and the total under management was around £636m in assets while the Prudential Fund had about £50m.
The real estate funds are going to be the worst since they tend to be illiquid.