Management companies are developing new directions in the mutual fund market

Management companies are developing new directions for wealthy investors in the mutual fund market. Alfa Capital is going to form funds for investment in production and warehouse space for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), working with developers Light Industrial. This segment of the real estate market is still poorly developed and has not been interesting for investment. Steps taken by the authorities to develop SMEs can increase their attractiveness. However, other managers see a number of risks in such investments. First of all, they are associated with the unpredictability of demand for premises and the complexity of their assessment.

As Alfa Capital Management Company told Kommersant, the company has launched a new trust management strategy aimed at investing in production and warehouse space for small and medium-sized businesses. Based on the results of two to three months of fundraising in the amount of up to 1.2 billion rubles. it is planned to invest in a specialized closed-end mutual fund, the rules of which were registered by the Central Bank on April 4. As part of the fund, funds will be invested in one or two sites in the Moscow region, where spaces with premises for small and medium-sized industries, warehouses, offices and showrooms are being built.

Alfa Capital is currently negotiating with several key developers in the Light Industrial segment, explained Vladimir Stolnikov, head of the alternative investment management directorate of the management company. The start of the investment cycle is expected in early summer.

Entering the closed-end mutual fund through the management strategy was not chosen by chance, since during the collection of funds they will be invested in short-term financial instruments (reverse repo transactions), which are not available for investments in the closed-end mutual fund, but the rates on which are higher than the OFZ yield. However, the strategy is available only to qualified investors. The deadline is three years, the implementation period for one project is projected to be one and a half years.

“In terms of industrial premises, the topic is new and, taking into account the measures taken recently for the development of medium and small businesses, perhaps promising,” believes Dmitry Yartsev, deputy general director of KSP Capital Asset Management. The most promising, according to market participants, are premises divided into several blocks. This approach, explains NF Group partner Stanislav Bibik, allows you to flexibly adapt to various business tasks of clients, offering not only production space, but also office space, each of which has individual access and the necessary infrastructure.

According to a study by IBC Real Estate and Parametr, from 2014 to 2020, 11–33 thousand square meters were commissioned annually in the Light Industrial segment. m, at the end of 2023 the figure increased to 152 thousand sq. m. m. Since the beginning of 2024, seven facilities with a total area of ​​221 thousand square meters have received permission to put into operation. m.

The potential profitability of such objects may be higher than that of investments in classical logistics, says Alexander Voronkov, CEO of Tethys Capital Management Company. According to Stanislav Bibik, investments in finished objects can bring 10-13% per annum, and when developing a project from scratch – 15-25% per annum. “The implementation of investment projects in this format, in the absence of a wide range of investment ideas on the market, may be in demand,” says Boris Golubev, director of the management department of the closed mutual fund RSHB Asset Management.

However, other market participants are not yet considering this segment for launching funds. In such investments, it is worth taking into account potentially high risks, since, unlike classic development projects, construction is not carried out for a specific customer, they explain.

According to Capella Investment Management partner Andrey Bogdanov, a small business “would rather invest in its own growth and scaling than in the purchase of its own production and warehouse space.” But given the shortage of such areas, the risks of finding a buyer may not be too great, the expert admits.

Another serious risk of Light Industrial, believes the general director of Veles Trust Management Company Dmitry Osipov, is the lack of extensive experience in the design and construction of such facilities, as well as their assessment by management companies: “Everyone knows approximately what warehouse, trade, office or residential real estate. A mistake at the design stage can cost a lot after the project is completed, plus you can make a mistake with the location, especially in the case of objects in the near Moscow region.”

Vitaly Gaidaev