This is a first step towards converting the fund into a property authorised investment fund (PAIF). As a PAIF, the fund will be exempt from the 20% corporation tax that must currently be paid on rental income received by non-PAIF vehicles.
This move comes after the company gained a unitholder approval of 99.7%. Therefore, at the end of August, the unit trust will be transformed into a newly created open-ended structure. It will be renamed the Henderson UK Property OEIC.
“The conversion to a PAIF is a longer term aim,” a spokesperson noted.
Marcus Langlands Pearse and Ainslie McLennan have managed the £2.16bn fund since 2009.
Over the period of one year, the fund has returned a cumulative performance of 10.5%, compared to the IMA property index which returned a cumulative performance of 8.2% over the same period, according to FE Analytics.
