Ignis Property Fund & Standard Life Investments

Standard Life Investments completed its acquisition of Ignis Asset Management earlier this summer, in a £390m deal which has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority.

We received an update today from Standard Life, specifically about their takeover of the Ignis UK Property Fund.

As a number of our clients hold this fund (it features in our model investment portfolios), we thought it would be useful to post this short update.

Following the completion of Standard Life Investments’ acquisition of Ignis Asset Management on 1 July 2014, the process of integrating Ignis into the Standard Life Investments group continues. We remain committed to keeping you informed of progress.

I would like to advise that, with effect from 6 October 2014, the Ignis investment team responsible for the Ignis UK Property Fund will move across to Standard Life Investments’ Real Estate team. There will be no material changes to the Fund or its mandate.

As a result, the team will now have access to a wider pool of specialist resource from across Standard Life Investments’ global team of 130 Real Estate investment professionals, in addition to the expertise and experience that exists across our global investment platform.

Under fund manager George Shaw’s tenure, investors in the Ignis UK Property Fund have been rewarded with consistently strong performance from a well-diversified portfolio of actively-managed UK commercial real estate assets.

In addition to George, portfolio managers, Pamela Rarity, Steven Rafferty, Chris Brydie and Neil Ritchie will also move across to Standard Life Investments on 6 October 2014. The team look forward to continuing to deliver consistently high levels of performance and service.

Standard Life Investments will advise on any other relevant changes regarding the Ignis Real Estate team in due course.

We plan to change the Fund’s name and update all associated marketing collateral in 2015 to reflect it being managed within Standard Life Investments and will be in touch again to confirm a date.

If any of our clients have any questions or concerns about this acquisition and any future changes to the Ignis UK Property fund, please speak to your usual Financial Planner at Informed Choice.

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