Border to Coast goes live with £7 billion in assets under management

The Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, one of the largest LGPS asset pools, has launched its first investment vehicles, following the transfer of £7 billion in assets from three of its partner funds.

Teesside, East Riding and South Yorkshire Pensions Authority have transferred internally-managed equity assets into two sub-funds of the Border to Coast Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS), for UK equities and overseas developed equities. Following the two initial funds, Border to Coast said that an emerging market equity fund and another UK equity funds would launch in the fourth quarter of 2018, and a global equity fund in the first quarter of 2019. The asset pool is also operating advisory mandates to Teeside, East Riding and South Yorkshire for another £5 billion in assets, for assets not yet transferred from the three partner funds.

Border to Coast chief executive officer, Rachel Elwell, commented: “We are all delighted to have achieved this significant milestone, which is testament to the strong partnership that has been built between our Partner Funds, with the newly formed Border to Coast and with our advisors and service providers. It has very much been a team effort and we are looking forward to building on this in the future to achieve our aim of making a difference to long-term investment outcomes for our LGPS partners.” And Chris Hitchen, chair of Border to Coast, commented: “It is a testament to Rachel and her team that such a challenging programme has been delivered not only on time but also with great care and attention to detail. There is a real buzz around our Leeds HQ and I am confident we will make our partner funds proud.”