Minerva hot property for some

Takeover talk sent the share price of property group Minerva soaring last week and gave a boost to the portfolios of three fund managers.

New Star's AA-rated Tim Steer, Gervais Williams of Gartmore and Chris Turner, manager of the TR Property investment trust, all hold stakes in the £500 million company, which plans to build the City's tallest building.

Minerva (MNR) effectively put itself up for auction this month when it announced it had received a takeover approach. This week it said several interested parties had been in contact. Suitors are thought to include Australian construction group Multiplex, Goldman Sach's Whitehall property fund, Morgan Stanley, Gerald Ronson's Heron International, and US developer Hines.

Minerva shares have been a good performer, rising from 215p at the start of the year to 245p in early July. News of the takeover delighted investors and the shares soared to 316p.

Tim Steer has played the rise well for his New Star UK Aggressive unit trust. He bought 420,000 shares in December when they were around 217p and built up his stake to 500,000. Following the news of an approach he offloaded 100,000 shares at around 323.5p.

Gartmore's Gervais Williams took 471,000 shares for the Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies unit trust (Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies Acc) in April when the shares traded at 243p. Unfortunately, he offloaded nearly half his stake at 240p before the bid was disclosed.

The TR Property investment trust has been rewarded for its patience. Turner, who will shortly take the trust from Henderson to Thames River, first bought 865,000 shares in May 2002 when the price was around 279.5p and last sold 40,000 shares in December 2002 when the price had fallen to 180.5p. He has held on to its remaining 560,000 shares ever since.

Minerva has an attractive £800 million investment portfolio. However, one stumbling block could be its majority stake in department store group Allders which it took private last year. Trading is believed to have been poor recently and it could dissuade pure property investors.