St James’s Place property fund reopens, but not for all investors

Britain’s largest wealth manager has reopened part of its £2 billion property fund that has been frozen since October.

St James’s Place (SJP), which has 958,000 customers and a total of £168 billion under management, said last week that the fund had been partially opened, but its admission came only after it agreed to release money for one client who had contacted The Sunday Times. SJP said, however, that investors’ payments from the fund were “delayed and will be processed in the order of receipt”.

Only customers who hold the fund in an SJP pension or life insurance policy will be able to get their cash. These account for about £1.158 billion of the fund. Those invested in the SJP Property unit trust, which has