All the main developments from the pooling process.
ACCESS
Search for ACS operator
The ACCESS LGPS pool is seeking to appoint a firm as operator of its collective investment vehicle. Kent County Council, on behalf of the pool, has launched a tender for an operator for its authorised contractual scheme and other vehicles, to manage around £25m of assets. The tender said that the pool is expecting the operator to run around 25 to 30 sub-funds.
UBS to manage passive investments
ACCESS has appointed UBS Asset Management to run its members’ passive investments, outside of its main investment vehicle. ACCESS says that members will collectively save £5m a year in management fees through the deal, which will see each member fund contract individually with the fund manager. Councillor Andrew Reid, chairman of the ACCESS joint committee, said: “I am delighted we have started the process of pooling early with some tangible, long term savings and look forward to a smooth transition to UBS.” The deal means that ACCESS will hold £11bn—around a quarter—of its £41bn of overall assets outside of its proposed authorised contractual scheme (ACS), which will oversee collective investments on behalf of the pool.
Border to Coast
Elwell appointed pool chief
Rachel Elwell is to take up the post of chief executive at the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership. She will join the emerging Local Government Pension Scheme pool from insurance firm Royal London, where she is currently staff pensions director and investment office director.
Brunel
Appointments
Brunel has made nine recent appointments from among the staff at member LGPS funds, including three senior roles. Matthrew Trebilcock joins the pool from Cornwall as client relationship director, the Environment Agency Pension Fund’s Faith Ward will be chief responsible investment officer and David Anthony from Wiltshire will be head of finance and corporate services.
Search
Brunel Pension Partnership (BPP) is seeking a head of private markets, covering real estate, infrastructure and private equity investment. According to website IPE.com, the new role will cover responsibility for assets of more than £5bn of the Local Government Pension Scheme pool’s £28bn of assets. The pool will look for recruits to other roles including, a principal private markets, a senior investment officer and three investment officers. The pool also look to fill positions as a client relationship officer, an investment operations officer and a business planner.
Mandate
Brunel has awarded a £38bn mandate to investment manager State Street. The firm will provide the pool with services including custody, fund accounting, performance measurement and foreign exchange, as well as data, risk and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analytics. Dawn Turner, chief executive at Brunel Pension Partnership, said: “The partnership we will have on integrating ESG reporting into State Street systems is very exciting.”
Central
Burns joins LGPS pool
LGPS Central, the pool of Midlands funds has appointed former Baring Asset Management global chief operating officer (COO) John Burns as its chief financial officer. Burns, who will also act as Central’s COO, joins other high profile appointments to the management team. Former Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association chief executive Joanne Segars is chair, and The Pensions Regulator’s former executive director for regulatory policy, Andrew Warwick-Thompson, is chief executive.
Fletcher appointed chief investment officer
Jason Fletcher has started in the role of chief investment officer at Central leaving behind his post at West Midlands Pension Fund. Fletcher, who began work at the beginning of October, said: “There is a lot of hard work ahead and a very challenging timetable, but I am convinced that LGPS Central will be successful in its ambition of providing transparent, high quality, excellent value for money investment management services to its partner funds.”
London CIV
Davys departs for West Midlands
Jill Davys has left the London CIV to join West Midlands Pension Fund as assistant director, investment and finance. Jill will lead on the development and delivery of investment strategy for both the West Midlands Pension Fund (WMPF) and the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority Pension Fund, overseeing the financial and risk management of the fund’s assets, cashflow and operational financial management. WMPF is part of the Central LGPS pool.
Sub funds launch
London CIV has announced the launch of four more sub-funds, taking the total to 12. The new funds are the Longview Global Equity (capped at £990m0, Henderson Emerging Markets (£335m), Epoch Global Equity Income (£750m) and RBC Sustainable Equity (£1bn). Hugh Grover, chief executive of London CIV, said that the total value of assets now transferred to the CIV has reached £5.6bn, in addition to the fee reductions achieved on the passive investments which sit outside the pool structure.
Local Pensions Partnership (LPP)
Jensen departs
Mike Jensen has returned to Lancashire County Council’s treasury management team after a spell as chief investment officer at the Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) LGPS pool. Jensen will take up a new position as the council’s director of investments, returning to the treasury department after two years away.
£1.3bn credit fund launched
LPP has launched a £1.3bn credit fund, offering returns linked to global credit markets and instruments. The fund will seek maximise risk-adjusted returns by capitalising on illiquidity premia and other technical factors in the global credit markets. Susan Martin, LPP chief executive, said: “At a time of continuing volatility in the global markets, the new fund can help investors achieve superior performance while mitigating downside risk.”
Wales
ACS procurement report due in November
A report on the process to select an ACS (authorised contractual scheme) operator for the Welsh LGPS pool is to go before a joint governance committee on 7 November. The process has been running since mid July. Eight bidders submitted applications and from that six were selected to bid. The pool’s administering member authorities will then seek local approval for the appointment. A final decision on the ACA (authorised contractual scheme) operator is anticipated in December.
