The Week Brexit Got Real for Investors in Property Funds
- Echoes of 2008 as companies froze assets to halt withdrawals
- Regulator says it will now re-examine fund liquidity
A U.K. Commercial Property Crisis?
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When reality dawned, the reaction was swift. For one corner of the U.K. investment industry, it’s not clear where it will stop.
Funds investing in commercial property, among the most popular last year, had started to show vulnerability in the months before Britain’s June 23 referendum on leaving the European Union. Withdrawals accelerated as opinion polls turned in favor of the “Leave” campaign, driven by concerns that international companies might shut or scale back London operations even if financial markets and betting odds suggested that Brexit was unlikely.