New Star Asset Management is poised to launch a major advertising fightback defending UK commercial property funds.
Property funds have suffered weeks of negative press after being forced to move from an offer to a bid price in the face of outflows, leading to as much of 7% being knocked off the value of units.
New Star Property unit trust (New Star Property Inc) was among the funds that made the move.
The group (NSAM) is understand to have taken out full page advertisements in most of the Saturday and Sunday personal finance sections of the national papers this weekend.
The adverts attack the press for its coverage of recent changes: 'The negative publicity regarding UK commercial property has partly been triggered by switches in the pricing basis of many of the larger UK property funds, including the New Star Property Unit trust.
'In some instances this reporting has lacked balanced and has suggested that UK commercial property may be facing dramatic falls, comparing the sector with the technology crash at the start of the century.'
The advertisements also say investors should not back property funds for the short term and should not see it as way of avoiding the costs associated with selling property.
