|
Wilky Fund Management has been appointed as property investment managers for Associated British Foods Pension Trustees Ltd
As a result of this new mandate, Guildford-based Wilky now has assets under management of nearly £460m.
Associated British Foods plc is UK agriculture’s biggest customer. Its food brands include Twinings, Ovaltine, Ryvita, Silver Spoon, and Kingsmill, while its textile business is represented on the high street by value fashion store Primark.
The group’s final salary pension scheme has assets totalling £2.21bn backing the pensions of over 16,000 pensioners. It has 5,800 current members and around 10,000 deferred members.
Group Pensions Manager Derek Yarrow said it now had £95m invested in direct property, following the recent purchase of a new multi-let industrial investment in Plymouth for approximately £10m, with plans to spend an additional £5 - 10m, and a further £10m invested in indirect property.
He added: “The Fund’s objective for the property portfolio has always been (and will continue to be) to generate income whilst preserving and improving capital values. The Trustees are long term investors in direct UK property and over the years have found that property has provided some excellent returns.”
Wilky already manages the property investments of the Merchant Navy Officers and Ratings Pension Funds which, according to independent research, puts it among the UK’s top 40 property investment managers based on the value of assets under management.
Managing director Nick Yeomans said: “Since the business was acquired from MNPA Ltd by The Wilky Group in 2004 we have combined our investment skills with the development expertise of our parent group, to create a compelling ‘director level service’ for pension funds and other investors.”
Wilky Fund Management have appointed Kevin Seville of Census Property Investment Management as consultant fund manager for the Fund. Kevin has been providing property advice to the ABF Trustees for around 20 years.
|
