Fund manager giants buy into property IPO

Highly-regarded UK fund managers Mark Lyttleton, Tony Nutt and Martin Gray have taken a stake in new property vehicle LXB Retail Properties.

Admitted to the stock exchange on 23 October, the Jersey incorporated closed-ended real estate raised £110m at the IPO stage and plans to invest in ‘out-of-town' retail property assets. Lyttleton's BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha fund has 8.41% of the company's issued share capital. The manager has similar positions in property ventures Hansteen Holdings and Max Property. "I bought a lot of the larger property groups during the refinancing in February and March, but as they have got re-rated I have moved out to some degree in the smaller companies," Lyttleton says. "To invest in these ...