Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has launched £90 million ($170 million) of Property Index Certificates t...

Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has launched £90 million ($170 million) of Property Index Certificates targeted at private banking and wealth management clients.

The notes have been launched to offer an alternative to collective investment schemes, the usual route high net worth individuals would take to invest in commercial property, according to Barclays.

Barclays previously offered £200 million of Property Index Certificates in April 2005 at a cost commensurate with collective investment schemes.

Paul Coleman, director, Barclays Capital Investor Solutions told WealthBriefing: "We do these things sporadically when we see ways of getting them to investors at cheap prices. The costs of administration in collective property vehicles is borne by the scheme so exposure to an index is attractive."

Barclays said the 4½-year Property Index Certificates are structured medium term notes which pay returns linked to the rental yield and capital growth of the Investment Property Databank UK commercial property index.

The IPD is the main index used to benchmark investment returns in the UK commercial property market covering 11,000 properties. There are currently over £600 million of the Barclays PICs in issue, split between 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011 expiries dates.