Aviva Asia Pacific Property

As at noon on 20th July 2015, trading in the £160m Aviva Asia Pacific Property fund has been suspended.

The investment house has said that it took the decision to freeze trading in the fund because two of the biggest investors, accounting for 75% of the fund's assets, have said they want to redeem their holdings. As a result, they needed to suspended the fund to give it time to sell its property investments in order to return the money.

Once this process was completed, Aviva have said that it would no longer make any sense to keep the fund open because it would be too small. It has therefore decided to close the fund and return money back to everyone at the same time.

However, the process could take one to two years to complete and investors will not be able to touch their money in this time.

Darius McDermott, of Chelsea Financial Services, said: “I understand why they have taken this action. It's a sub-scale fund and, with a couple of larger investors wanting to redeem, it's actually being done in the interest of their smaller shareholders. It will be frustrating for these people not to be able to get to their money, but if they currently receive an income from the fund, they will continue to do so while properties are being sold. It is a stark reminder of the illiquidity of the commercial property market."