Balanced Commercial Property Trust
Richard Kirby, MRICS, joined Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate Partners (formerly BMO Real Estate Partners) in 1990. He has been a fund manager since 1995 and has experience of managing commercial property portfolios across all sectors for open-ended, closed-ended and life fund clients. Richard has been lead manager of the F&C Commercial Property Trust since launch in 2005 where his responsibilities include advising on and implementing property portfolio strategy, sales, acquisitions, asset enhancement and management. He is a director and sits on both the Executive Committee and Investment Committee of CT REP. He is a Chartered Surveyor and a member of the Investment Property Forum, the British Council of Offices and Revo.
The trust is a vehicle for investors who wish to gain exposure to prime UK commercial property. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index and aims to provide shareholders with an attractive level of income together with the potential for capital and income growth from investing in a diversified UK commercial property portfolio. Dividends are paid monthly.
Objectives
The Company’s investment objective is to provide ordinary shareholders with an attractive level of income together with the potential for capital and income growth from investing in a diversified UK commercial property portfolio.
Investment Policy
The Company’s policy is to hold a diversified portfolio of freehold and long leasehold (over 60 years remaining at the time of acquisition) UK commercial properties. It invests principally in three commercial property sectors: office, retail (including retail warehouses) and industrial. It also can have an exposure to other commercial property sectors such as healthcare, leisure, hotels and serviced apartments, residential property, student housing, car parks and petrol stations, storage and supermarkets.
The Company invests in properties which the Board, on the advice of the Managers, believes will generate a combination of long-term growth in income and capital for shareholders. Investment decisions are based on an analysis of, amongst other things, sector and geographic prospects, tenant covenant strength, lease length, initial and equivalent yields, ESG risk and opportunity factors and the potential for alternative uses and/or development or redevelopment of the property.
Investment risks are spread by investing across different geographical areas and sectors and by letting properties to lower risk tenants. The Company has not set any maximum geographic exposures, but no single property may exceed 15 per cent of total assets and the five largest properties (excluding indirect property funds) may not exceed 40 per cent of total assets (in each case at the time of acquisition). Short leasehold properties (with less than 60 years remaining) may not exceed 10 per cent of total assets at the time of acquisition.
The Company is permitted to invest up to 15 per cent, at the time of acquisition, of its total assets in indirect property funds (including listed property companies) which invest principally in UK property, but these investments may not exceed 20 per cent of total assets at any subsequent date. The Company is permitted to invest cash, held by it for working capital purposes and awaiting investment, in cash deposits, gilts and money market funds.
The Company uses gearing throughout the Group to enhance returns over the long-term. Gearing, represented by borrowings as a percentage of total assets, may not exceed 50 per cent. However, the Board’s present intention is that borrowings of the Group will be limited to a maximum of 35 per cent of total assets at the time of borrowing.
Investment Risks
The value of your investments and any income from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the original amount invested. The value of property reflects the opinion of valuers and is reviewed periodically. These assets can also be illiquid and significant or persistent redemptions may require the manager to sell properties at a lower market value adversely affecting the value of your investment. A fund investing in a specific country carries a greater risk than a fund diversified across a range of countries. Gearing is used for investment purposes to obtain, increase or reduce exposure to an asset, index or investment. The use of gearing can enhance returns to investors in a rising market, but if the market falls the losses may be greater.
Fund Facts and Key Dates
Fund Facts
Investment manager | Columbia Threadneedle Investment Business Limited |
Launch date | 2005 |
Total assets | £1,369.7 million (as at 31.03.22) |
Currency | Sterling |
ISIN | GG00B4ZPCJ00 |
SEDOL | B4ZPCJ0 |
Ticker symbol | BCPT |
Key Dates
Annual general meeting
| June |
Year end | 31 December |
Dividend payment date(s) | Monthly |
Sustainability and ESG
Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) issues are the three central factors in measuring sustainability and can present both opportunities and threats to the long-term investment performance the Company aims to deliver to Shareholders. The Board is therefore committed to taking a responsible approach to ESG matters. There are two strands to this approach. The Company’s own responsibilities on matters such as governance and the impact it has through the investments that are made on its behalf by its Manager.
Find out more about our approach to sustainability and ESG issues here.
The Board
Trudi Clark is a former Chief Executive Officer of Schroders (C.I.) Limited and has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry. She is a non-executive director of a number of Guernsey based funds and companies.
John Wythe has approximately 40 years’ experience in the real estate industry and was until Dec 2010, a Director and Head of Fund Management of Prudential Property Investment Managers Limited, now M&G Real Estate. He has been a Board member of the Church Commissioners and is currently Chairman of the Trustees of The Portman Estate and has a number of other Non-Executive appointment, primarily involving real estate.
Linda Wilding qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young, before working in the private equity division of Mercury Asset Management from 1989 to 2002, rising to the position of Managing Director. She has served as a non-executive director (including as chairman) on the boards of a number of companies. She is currently a non-executive director of UDG Healthcare plc, Wesleyan Assurance Society and Electra Private Equity plc. She was a non-executive director and latterly chair on Corin plc from 2006 to 2012 and was senior independent director of Touchstone Innovations plc until 2017.
Hugh Scott-Barrett has experience at board level for over twenty years across real estate, asset management, and banking. He was Non-Executive Chairman at Capital & Regional plc until May 2020 and was Chief Executive of the Company prior to this from 2008-2017. He was previously a member of ABN AMRO’s managing board serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and before that worked at SBC Warburg and Kleinwort Benson.
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