BORDER TO COAST LAUNCHES £2.6BN GLOBAL MULTI FACTOR EQUITY INDEX FUND 

Posted on June 12th, 2025

• Border to Coast has launched an innovative index fund, delivering a customisable strategy and significant cost savings.  

• Designed in close collaboration with Partner Funds, the launch expands the pool’s global equity propositions, leveraging the strength of external partners BlackRock and STOXX in index investing and research.   

Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (“Border to Coast”) has launched its first index proposition, enabling Partner Funds to pool £2.6bn of assets into a customisable strategy and significantly reduce costs.  

Compared to Partner Funds’ existing solutions, the Global Multi-Factor Equity Index Fund is expected to deliver significant savings in fees every year due to the benefits of collective scale and strong strategic partnerships.  

Designed in close collaboration with Partner Funds, the new proposition expands cost-effective access to global equity strategies within the pool. The proposition will blend stocks and target five traditional fundamental factors – Value, Momentum, Quality, Low Volatility, and Size. 

Border to Coast partnership will retain full control over the evolution of the fund, including its decarbonisation metrics and policy on exclusions. This ensures the proposition considers the long-term financial risks that net zero and responsible investment policies seek to mitigate.  

Launched in May with support from five of its Partner Funds* Border to Coast has appointed global investment manager BlackRock to manage the proposition in conjunction with STOXX as the index administrator, providing Partner Funds cost-effective access to market-leading strengths in index investing, research, factor-based solutions, and product design.  

Cllr Ken Dawes, Chair of Tyne and Wear Pension Fund Committee, said: “The launch of our partnership’s first index fund was a real collaborative effort, and demonstrates how Border to Coast delivers on the ambitions of pooling. We are delighted with the appointment of an expert global asset manager, overseen by a diligent team retaining ultimate control of the index to ensure it aligns with our collective Responsible Investment policies. This is a cost-effective solution which complements our existing pooled equity funds.”  

Jo Kempton, Head of Lincolnshire Pension Fund, added: “Working together with the Border to Coast investment team we have developed a proposition that not only cuts fees but will also remain aligned with our investment policies. This isn’t just passive exposure to an index, it brings the best of active management together with the cost-effectiveness of index investing to provide a sophisticated solution that we wouldn’t have necessarily had access to prior to our partnership.” 

Graham Long, Head of Portfolio Solutions, Border to Coast, said: “Our first index fund complements the robust platform of propositions we have designed and developed in collaboration with Partner Funds and further enhances the pooled global equity options we offer, in a strategy with meaningful integration of Responsible Investment principles focused on managing risk and delivering long-term value.” 

The Fund will seek to outperform the MSCI All Country World Index by at least 0.5% a year (net of fees) over rolling five-year periods. 

*Tyne & Wear, Lincolnshire, Cumbria, Bedfordshire and Warwickshire.

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