The £1527m fund has been renamed the Freehold Income Authorised Fund (FIAF) to reflect that it is now authorised by the FCA. Managed by Time Investments, it owns around 65,000 resuidential freehold ground rents
Paifs, which include real property funds, UK real estate investment trusts (REITS) and certain foreign equivalents, are exempt from capital gains tax on returns, which can result in greater performance returns for investors.
Nigel Ashfield, fund manager, said: “We have seen a significant increase in the number of investors wanting to invest following FIT’s conversion to an authorised Paif, which we expect to result in increased capital inflows and further growth in the underlying property portfolio.”
A number of other asset managers, including Schroders and M&G, have converted property funds into Paifs, while others including Ignis are in discussions about doing so.
