Columbia Threadneedle suspends dealing on property fund over liquidity issues

Columbia Threadneedle has suspended dealing on its CT UK Property Authorised Investment fund, in an attempt to shore up its liquidity.

In a statement, Colombia Threadneedle said this decision was taken "due the amount of cash in the Fund reducing to a level where future redemption requests would not be able to be met until an orderly sale of assets has completed".

The suspension came into effect from noon on 10 October and means investors will be unable to buy or sell shares in the CT UK PAIF or its feeder fund until it is lifted.

Columbia Threadneedle's other retail property funds remain open and are unaffected at present.

UK property funds impose liquidity limits - reports

This comes the same week that Schroders and BlackRock, along with Threadneedle, also imposed imposed redemption limits on some property funds as liquidity amongst property funds became scarce once again.

Property funds have come under scrutiny in recent years after several high profile incidents of them failing to return client's capital when requested. Regulators have requested the suitability of the product given the mismatch between the length of time needed to sell property assets and having a structure which allows frequent withdrawals. 

This round of suspensions and restrictions is the third wave in five years of property funds struggling to return cash to investors.

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In 2016, after the Brexit vote and 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 selloff, there were widespread suspensions across the open-ended property market and while most funds remain open for now, Fitch Ratings warned for a snowballing effect.

In a note put out on 11 October, it said: "Contagion risk has been contained so far, but increasing redemption requests may cause some funds to make forced sales, pushing down asset values."

It added that "this could lead to knock-on effects for other funds, through weaker returns, potentially triggering more widespread withdrawals," something the International Monetary Fund had noted earlier in the month.