Royal London sells institutional property portfolio

The move comes at a time when concerns are being raised about the lack of institutional buyers in the property market and is possibly a sign that the market has turned a corner.

Richard Pardoe, head of property at RLAM, said, "We attracted interest from all quarters of the market and despite the apparent shortage of institutional buyers at the moment we are finding that the keenest buyers want property as an aggressive use of bank debt. There is also a sea change in the market, funds are looking more entrepreneurially at bids and some are even combining as syndicates."

"Some of the properties were selected for size reasons. Our strategy now is to focus on larger assets and hold nothing below £15million in the main life fund. Over the past year we have been combining the best of the two property investment styles we acquired. My focus is to develop a style that concentrates on parts of the business that create performance and to spend resources on these areas. Following this deal any changes this year are likely to be for strategic reasons."