Property Week | Onshoring progress is welcome

This article originally appeared in Property Week on 24 April 2020, written by Roger Clarke, IPSX. 

Conversations about the economy and taxation have been difficult to avoid in recent weeks. Questions around how the UK will eventually return to normal – whatever that might now mean – after a lockdown are now absolutely critical.

We believe this is an ideal time for commercial real estate owners, whether they are owner occupiers, fund managers or public sector owners, to consider their options to generate much needed liquidity for their businesses or the projects they are responsible for. Signs of early green shoots have appeared with fund raising starting to take place as investors sense that it’s time to consider investing in real assets again.

As a new regulated stock exchange, IPSX is a solution for owners looking to generate that much needed liquidity. It gives them the opportunity to sell a stake in their investment, allowing them to recycle capital for new projects while retaining an interest in that first asset.

But amid these unprecedented circumstances (to borrow the nation’s favourite adjective), it’s easy to forget that, in the background, another trend is emerging. As we consider what ‘normal’ might be in the future, we should remember that the tide is now turning on a significant area in the UK investment landscape: offshore funds. 

Progress on the promotion of onshore structures is both welcome and long overdue. In March, the Investment Association and the Association of Real Estate Funds called on the government to create a professional investor fund structure, which would act as an onshore alternative to fund managers setting up in offshore jurisdictions. 

At IPSX, we fully support the industry’s move toward greater transparency and ensuring that UK based assets remain in the UK. Moreover, we believe that we are part of the solution.

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