On the 7 July 2021 AREF held its second Property Investors Voice call with investors in real estate funds discussing the issues affecting them.
The meeting was co-chaired by Dugal Hunt, Head of UK, CBRE Global Investment Partners and the Chair of AREF’s Investor Committee, and Paul Richards, MD at AREF.
Investors discussed the challenges of fund managers providing them with accurate and appropriate fund data. Investors required different data depending upon their own systems and models which made it difficult to implement a standard questionnaire to collect this data. This was particularly challenging with data requirements evolving constantly and there being no standards for some types of data such as ESG. Although, it was hoped new regulations coming in would help towards standardising this.
There was a discussion on how investors could ensure fund acquisitions and mergers were right for the fund they were investing in. AREF will look at producing some best practice regarding the governance of fund acquisitions and mergers. Also, investors would like to see more independent governance for some funds as it was felt that external input and decision-making added value and usually led to better performance.
Investors wanted the ability to replace the fund manager in exceptional circumstances, when it was absolutely necessary, but some funds did not include a clause that enabled this. AREF would consider how they could assist with this.
The call ended with praise for fund managers on how transparent they have been during COVID-19 and it was hoped this would continue post pandemic.
Full notes from the session have been sent out to Investor Members.
These sessions will be held quarterly, and are open to any and all qualified investors in property funds, no AREF membership is required. If you would like to join these 45 minute discussions look out for the invite through the events page. Let’s explore what matters to you as investors.
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