Axa Asia-Pacific has reopened its Wholesale Australian Property Fund (WAPF) after the fund managed to retain enough investors to keep the operation of the fund viable.
"We are pleased to confirm that both APF (Australian Property Fund) and WAPF have received broad support from investors and advisers since being declared liquid in January," Axa said in a letter to advisers.
"Nearly 70 per cent of investors have retained their investment in APF and over 50 per cent have retained their investment in WAPF.
"Support from direct investors was particularly strong, with a retention rate of nearly 70 per cent.
"This level of support provides us with the necessary scale to continue the funds and reflects sufficient underlying appetite for direct exposure to commercial property within investment portfolios."
The fund has been opened for applications from existing investors since the beginning of July, and Axa plans to open it for new investors after it concludes its adjusted redemption process.
This process is expected to end at January 2013, but could be extended for a year.
Axa said it would continue with its plans to sell a total of seven properties to meet outstanding redemption requests.
One of the properties has already been sold for $58 million to Centuria Capital, a premium to book value.
"An additional property is also being marketed for sale after the major tenant agreed to extend its lease until 2022, making the property more appealing to buyers," Axa said.
"The sale of this property will provide the portfolio with additional cash to assist with liquidity and favourably rebalance the portfolio's geographic allocation."
