AEW Core Property Trust Suspends Redemptions
Posted on 04/10/2020
Organized as a Maryland corporation, AEW Core Property Trust (U.S.) is an open-ended U.S. core real estate vehicle managed by Boston-based AEW Capital. Like other real estate funds, the trust is concerned about liquidity during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At December 31, 2019, the open-ended fund had US$ 9.5 billion of gross property value and net asset value equating to US$ 7.2 billion.
AEW Capital informed investors that its suspending fund redemption requests. The fund is concerned about a rapid withdrawal, causing the portfolio’s value to drop sharply. A large contingency of U.S. public pension funds are subscribers to the fund and some noted concerns about the fund’s weighting toward U.S. retail property assets. These types of funds are pushed by fund consultants since they are open-ended and are run by experienced property managers.
The fund targets transaction sizes of around US$ 50 million to US$ 100 million of gross value.
Many pension investors have been redeeming out of U.S. core property funds. The San Diego City Employees Retirement System started withdrawing money from the AEW Core Property Trust back in July 2019. The San Diego pension also started to pull money from the UBS Trumbull Property Fund.
