Deutsche Bank's asset manager DWS has announced it will honour just 10 per cent of withdrawal requests from its flagship property fund, as falling real estate prices intensify pressure on the €100bn German property fund industry.
The €4.3bn "Grundbesitz Europa" fund, the biggest of three DWS open-ended property funds, would cancel 90 per cent of each investor's redemption requests, DWS said on Monday as it seeks to preserve liquidity. The fund has lost more than 10 per cent of its net asset value since the beginning of the year as redemption requests, slow sales and borrowing levels close to legal limits have resulted in a liquidity crunch.
The DWS funds are among the hardest hit by an investor exodus in Germany's open-ended property funds. The sector has suffered almost €18bn in outflows since the beginning of 2024, according to Bundesbank data. Some smaller funds have already suspended redemptions entirely this year, while others are racing to sell properties to meet redemptions.
"We are aware that the decision to activate the redemption restrictions may cause financial hardship for investors," said Christian Bäcker, DWS's head of European real estate portfolio management for retail clients. "We regret this." But he said that the restrictions, which are provisionally in place for 12 months, would allow the fund managers to "generate liquidity through orderly sales processes and potentially achieve reasonable returns again in the future".
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing