Last checked at 
(Adds Columbia Threadneedle)
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Six asset managers including M&G
and Legal & General said they were keeping
property funds totalling more than $7.5 billion in assets frozen
as valuers continue to struggle to assess real estate due to the
coronavirus crisis.
M&G froze its $3.2 billion UK Property Portfolio in
December, as uncertainty over Brexit and weakness in Britain's
retail commercial property sector prompted redemption requests.
Most other UK property funds also halted redemptions in
March, as valuers said there was "material uncertainty" about
property values at the end of the first quarter due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
As the second quarter draws to a close, M&G said its valuers
were still applying a material uncertainty clause due to the
lack of property deals. However, it said its clause did not
apply to the industrial and logistics property sectors where
there had been transactions.
Legal & General said there was no change to the lock-up of
its 2.9 billion pound ($3.7 billion) fund.
Standard Life said two funds totalling about 500
million pounds remained frozen due to valuation difficulties,
while Aviva, Columbia Threadneedle and Janus Henderson
said the material uncertainty clause still applied to
their 120 million, one billion and 500 million pound funds
respectively.
The funds are expected to remain frozen till at least
September due to the valuation challenges, and some of those
which usually offer daily redemptions may need to change
structure to survive, industry sources say.
The M&G fund has 181 million pounds in real estate assets
under offer or for sale and the sale of all of the asset would
bring cash levels up to 16.1%, M&G said in a statement.
"Reopening the fund for dealing will depend on cash levels
but will also be contingent on the material uncertainty clause
being lifted," it said.
Other frozen property funds include those managed by Kames
and Royal London. They did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
($1 = 0.7952 pounds)
(Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise; Editing by Edmund Blair
and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
