The Shipbuilding Industries Pension Scheme (SIPS) has almost completed investing in a property management fund through First Property Group plc.

The mandate was awarded to First Property Group in January 2015 and is now 95 per cent invested following the recent exchange of contracts to purchase a portfolio of supermarkets and a retail warehousing scheme in Southampton.

Completion of these purchases will take place later this week. The SIPS fund will then be invested in twenty four properties at a cost of £160.7m, producing an annualised yield after management charges of 6.3 per cent.

Total funds under management by the Group will amount to £457 million, an increase of 13 per cent since 30 September 2016.

Commenting on the news, First Property Group chief executive Ben Habib said: “I am delighted that the SIPS fund is now substantially invested and that it is producing an income return of 6.3 per cent per annum; a very high yield in a close to zero interest rate environment.

“Opportunities to invest well in the commercial property market have increased since the referendum in June, and we are pleased to have capitalised on these so quickly. We remain bullish about prospects for the UK and its property market and hope to be announcing additional fund mandates very soon.”

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