George Soros cuts Hibernia Reit stake by more than half

Billionaire investor George Soros' stake in Hibernia Reit has been cut by more than half since its flotation, following a share sale last week.

The Hungarian-American financier, who earned the title of “The man who broke the Bank of England” when he bet against the sterling in 1992, was one of the anchor investors in Hibernia Reit during its initial public offering in December 2013, taking a stake of more than 8.2 per cent.

Soros Fund Management cut its stake in Hibernia Reit to 3.8 per cent on June 3 from 5.6 per cent, according to a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. This follows on from share sales in April and September last year.

The move is part of a broader trend among real estate investment trust set up in recent years with initial anchor investments from US hedge funds, who are gradually selling down and being replaced by insurers, long-only investment funds and pension funds. On June 3, Standard Life’s stake in Hibernia Reit breached the 3 per cent level at which it is obliged to disclose its investment to the stock market, according to a separate filing published on Tuesday.

“We are seeing a broadening of our shareholder base, with an increase in the holdings of long-term specialist property investors, attracted by the sustained recovery in the Dublin office sector on which Hibernia focuses,” a spokesman for the company said.

Investor interest in the company has also been helped in the past year by the company’s move to internalise its management, at a cost of €21.1 million, and its inclusion inclusion in the Epra Europe index of real-estate companies, which is followed by many passive investors in the sector, he said.

In recent weeks, BlackRock also disclosed a holding above 3 per cent, while Morgan Stanley Investment Management signalled its investment had risen to 4.1 pe cent from just over 3 per cent.

Elsewhere, US hedge fund manager John Paulson’s Paulson & Co cut its stake in rival property real-estate investment trust, Green Reit, this year to below 3 per cent. It held almost 13 per cent of the stock after Green Reit’s IPO three years ago.