Investors to regain capital from axed fund
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 12:15pm
Investors with funds tied up with Pengana Capital's Australian Property Securities Fund can expect to get a reimbursement of "as close to 100 per cent" of their capital following last week's announcement of the fund's closure.
Denis Carroll, head of distribution at Pengana, said the fund manager is aiming to return as much of investors' capital back to them, following the closure of the $13 million fund that has suffered from continuing issues in the Australian listed property market.
"We'll be returning their capital to them, as close to 100 per cent of their capital [as possible]," said Carroll.
Pengana sent out the notice to around 100 retail investors of the fund last week, detailing the plans of its closure. So far, the fund manager is not aware of any negative reaction from its investors, he said.
Carroll stressed that it was no longer logical to continue offering the fund as ongoing problems in the market, such as concentration, high correlation with equities and long deleveraging processes hamper the performance of the sector.
"We're very mindful of the fact that if we have money from our investors, we won't take money unless we believe we can add value to our investors, and clearly in this particular sector we believe it's not possible to add value any longer.
"So it's really unconscionable to be holding investors' money," he said.
The fund, which has $13 million in funds under management, has like many of its peers been hit by the fall of the Australian property market. At its peak, the fund held $932 million in funds under management.
Meanwhile, Pengana will be concentrating its efforts on the Asian property market, which Carroll says will be a strong asset class to generate returns following the GFC.
The firm is currently developing a new Asian long short real estate securities fund.
"We believe that on the back of an equities rebound in Asia and mergers and acquisitions activity, it makes sense to have a focus on Asian property stocks," he said.
Ruth Liew
This story was found at: http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/25795
Printed: Wednesday, 8 September 2010 7:19am