BORDER TO COAST PENSIONS PARTNERSHIP SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES £5BN GLOBAL EQUITY ALPHA FUND – ITS LARGEST FUND TO DATE
Posted on November 21st, 2019
Leeds, 21 November 2019
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (“Border to Coast”), one of the largest UK public sector pension pools in the UK whose assets total c. £45bn, announces the launch of its Global Equity Alpha fund, with assets of c. £5bn. This brings Border to Coast’s assets under management to c. £15bn, excluding commitments to private markets of £1.8bn that are currently being placed.
Following the appointment of Harris Associates, Investec Asset Management, Lindsell Train and Loomis Sayles as managers of the Border to Coast Global Equity Alpha Fund in June, Border to Coast is delighted to announce the successful launch of the fund. Eight (out of twelve) of the Partner Funds invested at launch, with assets from 14 mandates across both segregated and pooled vehicles being transferred to the fund. The restructuring of the assets to the target portfolios of the selected external managers has now been completed with the support of BlackRock and Inalytics as the transition manager and adviser.
The competitive manager selection and economies of scale will result in aggregate annual management fee savings to Partner Funds of c.£3.5m per year. The fund seeks to achieve a long-term return 2% pa ahead of the MSCI All Country World Index after deduction of manager fees.
Graham Long, Head of External Investment at Border to Coast, said “The fund aims to combine the highest quality, best value investment managers into a coherent portfolio where the outcome is greater than the sum of the parts.”
Chris Hitchen, Chair of Border to Coast, said “We are delighted that our Global Equity Alpha Fund has been successfully launched and that our strong line up of investment managers are now managing the assets. This is our largest fund launch to date, taking our total assets under management to c.£15bn and followed our largest and most complex transition to date. I am pleased to say that the Border to Coast team, eight investing Partner Funds, our transition manager BlackRock and adviser Inalytics have worked together very effectively to deliver the launch to plan.”
Councillor Doug McMurdo, Chair of the Border to Coast Joint Committee and of Bedfordshire Pension Fund (LGPS) said, “It is very encouraging to witness the Partnership making good progress against plan. I am delighted that the Global Equity Alpha Fund is now fully accessible to our Partner Funds. It is paramount that sub-funds are made available to the 12 Partner Funds in line with the agreed strategy, in order that the identified benefits from economies of scale can be realised. As with all procurement processes at Border to Coast, the selection of all four managers; Harris Associates, Investec Asset Management, Lindsell Train and Loomis Sayles followed an extensive search and robust process. I look forward to the delivery of returns as set out and agreed, and monitoring progress through our “partnership” with Border to Coast Pension Partnership Ltd for many years to come.”
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