Effective 30 January 2009 (from 07:00 am), DEGI, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, will end the suspension of redemptions for its DEGI INTERNATIONAL fund, which has been in effect since the end October 2008.
The resumption has widespread support from sales partners and major distribution channels. Similarly, large institutional investors, which represent less than 10% of the Fund, are satisfied by the quality of the holdings and have declared their willingness to continue holding units.
New business flows in the last three months are evidence of investor and advisor support for the fund. Since redemptions were suspended on 30 October 2008, the fund has posted inflows of a total of EUR 65 million from private investors. This has improved liquidity. After ending the suspension of redemptions DEGI INTERNATIONAL will have access on liquid reserves of around 25% of fund assets.
In addition to the inflow of fresh investor capital, there has also been an increase in liquid assets available on a daily basis as a result of long-term earmarked bonds being reallocated to cash.
The high letting ratio of around 98% and the broad distribution of the portfolio properties across a large number of countries are indicative of the good quality of the property assets. As of 31 December 2008, the 12-month performance for DEGI INTERNATIONAL was approximately 4.8% (in accordance with the BVI calculation method).
Since its launch in 2003, the fund has consistently provided positive returns.
By contrast, the company will extend the suspension of redemption of units for DEGI EUROPA, which is also managed by DEGI, for a further nine months. Since the suspension of redemptions of units on 30 October 2008, it has not been possible to secure sufficient liquidity to end the suspension. The fund manager will continue its efforts to increase the level of liquid assets in the fund and expressly tries to end the suspension of redemption early.
Source: DEGI
