When fully invested, the committment will give Morley a 40 per cent stake in the fund, which specialises in retail warehouse parks in mainland Europe. The move follows Norwich Union's decision earlier this year to switch up to£1 billion of its property holdings into Europe.
At present, the Pillar fund owns 861,110 sq ft (80,000 sq m) of space over three parks, including Nassica near Madrid, Navile near Bologna and the Sintra Retail Park near Lisbon, with a combined value of Eu195.5 million (£137.1 million). It is also in the process of acquiring a fourth at Arlon in Belgium. The scheme provides more than 350,000 sq ft (3,200 sq m), but is being purchased for just Eu37 million (£25.9 million).
Morley Fund Management European fund manager Ben Stirling said: 'The planning environment in the regions Pillar Retail Europe Fund is targeting is conducive to performance growth, and there are direct historic similarities with the UK's retail park market, which together give us confidence for the growth of the fund.'
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