The Morley Pooled Property Fund is an external fund that Standard Life customers invest in through the Standard Life Morley Property Fund. It is a pension investment fund for Individual and Group Pensions, including Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs).
The Morley Pooled Property Fund introduced a queue for all withdrawal requests, of up to twelve months, from September 2007. When the rate of withdrawal requests exceeds the rate at which properties can be sold at a favourable price for investors, it can become necessary for the fund manager, in this case Morley, to introduce some controls over the rate of withdrawals to bring them more into line with the sales of property. These include the queuing of withdrawal requests.
Although a queue has been in place for sometime for the Morley Pooled Property Fund, until now Standard Life was able to continue to meet withdrawal requests from our customers. However, the number of requests for withdrawals mean we must now reflect the Morley queue for customers who purchased their units through Standard Life.
With immediate effect, we are therefore reflecting Morley's queuing system for switches and transfers from the Morley Property Fund. All requests that join the queue will be processed as Morley release funds to us. Customers who are taking retirement benefits and plans that are paying death claims will not be required to queue.
How does this affect customers with an investment in the Morley Property Fund?
If, like many customers, you continue to view commercial property as part of a medium to long-term investment, the introduction of a queuing system will protect any potential future growth of your investment in the Morley Property Fund. The value of your investment may fall as well as rise.
If your retirement date falls within the period that the queuing system is in place, you will not be affected and your benefits will be paid out on that date as normal.
However, if you do wish to surrender, transfer or switch out of the Morley Property Fund, your request will be placed in a queue and will be processed as Morley release funds to us.
Looking ahead
In our view, UK commercial property continues to be an important part of a diversified mix of investments and going forward will be supported by the growth prospects of the UK economy and strong rental demand. We expect the lower returns currently being experienced to give way to a modest recovery as we move through 2008, with stronger returns being generated over both the medium and longer term.
More Information
If you require more information about your property investment, SIPP queries call on 0845 084 5000, for Individual Pensions call 0845 606 0012, for Claims call 0845 606 0027 and for Group pensions call 0845 606 0075. The telephone lines are open between 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday. (Calls may be monitored/recorded and charges vary).
