Legal & General Property (LGP) announced on Friday that it has secured a further £117 mln (EUR 136 mln) of equity for its Income Property Fund from three corporate pension schemes, including a substantial commitment from the Michelin Pension Plan. The further investment brings its total commitments to nearly £180 mln.

The fund, which was launched in July 2010, was the first fund to provide defined benefit pension schemes with an alternative to comparable asset classes. It claims to offer an innovative way to invest in property, seeking to generate a real yield in excess of 4.5% per annum from secure, primarily government-backed, inflation-linked sources of rental income.

Having already invested £80 mln into the market, the fund continues to take advantage of opportunities in the sale-and-leaseback market.

'This significant further equity injection reflects the strong appetite for the Income Property Fund, as a second-generation long lease fund, which has been designed around clients' requirements,' said Pete Gladwell, business development manager at LGP. 'Indeed, we understand it remains the only fund in its peer group able to provide income streams over 20 years in length that provide annual LPI inflation, backed by purely investment grade tenants.'

LGP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and one of the largest institutional property fund managers in the UK.