Credit Suisse commercial property fund to liquidate amid big discount

A Credit Suisse Group global property fund will wind down against the backdrop of low trading volume and a discount of more than 20% to underlying assets due to market corrections triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Swiss bank said.

"The fund management company has decided to liquidate the Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund Global, partly because of the trading discount that has arisen on the stock market," it said.

The properties held by the real estate fund are to be transferred to the Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund International , in the first half of 2021, and the liquidation proceeds will be paid out to the investors, according to the bank.

Trading in the fund units on the SIX Swiss Exchange has been suspended with immediate effect, and the units are being delisted, the statement added.

"The fund's performance is no longer consistent with the fundamentally high location and asset quality of the underlying real estate portfolio", which consisted of 12 top-end commercial properties in America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, it said.

The Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund International, which is traded over the counter and aimed at institutional investors, will acquire the properties, whose transfer value will be set by valuation experts and confirmed independently, the bank said. The fund has seen a 13% drop in performance in the past year, according to Swiss Fund Data.

Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund Global's biggest assets were office buildings in Japan, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, according to the fund's web page.

Office and retail property values have fallen this year, according to real estate broker CBRE.

Many unlisted property funds in Britain were suspended in March because surveyors could not be certain of property valuations as a result of the pandemic, though several have started to reopen since September as valuations became clearer.