Transfer of property to new fund HIFML

Forsters acts for Clerical Medical on £50m property transfer to new fund

Forsters has acted on the transfer of property owned by Clerical Medical as part of its initial injection of £50 million into a new fund to be established by HBOS and managed by Invista Real Estate Investment Management. Forsters will continue to act for the fund, to be known as the HIFML UK Property Fund, on future transactions.

Clerical Medical, part of HBOS, is a long-term client of Forsters which acts for many of the HBOS group funds. Forsters was recently named the Property Firm of the Year at the British Legal Awards. 

The Forsters team was led by property partner, Sophie Hamilton, assisted by Chris Ogle, and also included Janet Matthews, Sarah Johnson, Christopher Jackson and Rachel Harris.

The HIFML UK Property Fund will be offered to retail investors through independent financial advisers in January 2009 and will be structured as an authorised UK open-ended investment company, focused predominantly on the UK market. It aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in a portfolio of commercial properties that offer a strong and stable income stream over the medium to long term and above-average capital growth potential.

The new mandate increases Invista’s number of funds under management to 23, of which eight are with the HBOS group. At the end of November 2008, Invista Real Estate Investment Management had a total of £6.7 billion in assets under management, including commercial and residential property across the UK and continental Europe.

Invista chief executive Duncan Owen commented: 

"Despite the difficult conditions in the UK property market, Invista believes that the underlying fundamentals of property remain healthy over the medium to long term, offering investors attractive returns and remaining an important and strategic investment to hold."