A UK-based investment management company has confirmed its property assets have increased by almost a half following the £1.6bn transfer of the Co-operative Asset Management’s (TCAM) property portfolio.
Completed at the end of November last year, Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has taken over TCAM’s massive property holding from Axa Real Estate Investment Managers. RLAM — a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal London Group, the UK’s largest mutual insurance company — now has property assets of more than £5 billion, up from £3.4bn in September last year.
It has also hired three of Axa’s team with hands-on experience of the assets. Daniel Shepherd and Yasin Sadiq, both asset managers at Axa Real Estate, have joined Royal London as senior asset managers to continue working on the property portfolio. Anita Maslin is also transferring from Axa take up a new position as property administrator.
The decision to manage the portfolio in-house follows RLAM’s July, 2013, acquisition of the Co-operative Insurance Society and the Co-operative Asset Management company.
Gareth Dickinson is RLAM’s head of property. “This expansion has strengthened our sector specialisms with dedicated and expanded retail, office and development management teams,” he commented.
Dickson also said he was “absolutely delighted to welcome our new colleagues at a time when funds under management have just exceeded £5bn”.
The transfer takes RLAM’s parent company and private client funds under management from £78.4bn to more than £80bn. Listed among its external clients are company pension schemes, universities, charities, endowments and insurance companies.
Beyond the Co-operative package, RLAM is in the middle of an active refurbishment and development programme. Schemes underway include a new pre-let 100,000 sq ft headquarters office in Egham, Surrey, and substantial refurbishments of office properties in Reading and Staines. It is also building a new office block on Rathbone Place and major refurbishments on nearby Moorgate and Warwick Street in Central London.
The company is set to deliver over 400,000 sq ft of new build or substantial office refurbishments over the next 12 to 24 months. Across its entire managed funds the total overall development and refurbishment work is around £460m and will deliver more than two-and-a-half million square feet of high quality floor space.
