Australian Unity has moved closer to listing its $378 million Office Property Fund, with heavyweight investment bank UBS emerging as an adviser on the float alongside Credit Suisse.
The float, first flagged by The Australian in   June, comes after a wave of smaller property trusts won support on the Australian Securities Exchange. 
Australian Unity said the pair were working as joint financial advisers "to assist us in developing the (float) proposal and our work with them is progressing well".
The fund manager said it would give investors an explanatory memorandum in coming months that would provide more detail about the plan. It would then ask investors to vote on a listing.
Australian Unity said the plan to list the fund on the ASX was intended to support the fund's long-term growth, and to provide enhanced liquidity to investors, including offering them a larger-than-usual withdrawal offer around the time of listing.
This could see it raise capital to both pay out existing investors and also build up a war chest for expansion.
The income-based fund's portfolio of eight office assets in NSW, Victoria, ACT and South Australia should suit yield-seeking investors. But there is also the potential to expand as debt costs are low and there is a brisk trade in city fringe and suburban towers.
The fund, which is geared at 48.4 per cent, is performing well and generated total returns of 14.3 per cent in the 2015 financial year.
Revaluations of the fund's property portfolio resulted in a net lift of 2.1 per cent in the value of the portfolio at the end of   June. Australian Unity also boosted earnings at 241 Adelaide Street, Brisbane, and 468 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, by converting some space into higher value uses.It has also had leasing success. At 2 Eden Park Drive in Sydney's North Ryde, occupancy rose from 65.4 per cent to 83.4 per cent and agreements have been stuck to lift this to about 96 per cent. Overall, the fund's portfolio occupancy should lift from 91.7 per cent to over 95 per cent before the end of the year when a listing is considered.