Brunel appoints FundRock ACS operator

Brunel Pension Partnership, the £30 billion asset pool for 10 LGPS funds mainly in the South West, has appointed FundRock Management Company at its Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS) operator.

Brunel PP’s chief operating officer, Joe Webster, commented: “We felt that FundRock really understand our business and will excel at meeting our requirements. We’ve chosen to go for an ACS model for our investment management vehicle for around £7.5 billion of actively managed equities because of the tax transparency this provides, and the fact it will make operations and transitions simpler, keeping costs lower.”

Webster said that under the ACS model, Brunel will act as a sponsor and investment manager of the ACS and FundRock will be responsible for meeting regulation requirements and contractual arrangements. “The ACS delegates the fund management to us and we sub-delegate to our chosen fund managers. This model allows us a good degree of flexibility when choosing investment managers. The ACS also performs risk control, adding an additional level of governance and control over our transactions for clients. All in all, it’s a good decision for our shareholder client funds in the Brunel partnership,” Webster explained. In addition, Webster said that FundRock also offered value for money and the level of commitment and security that Brunel wanted. “The model we’ve selected frees us up to focus on choosing quality managers and lets FundRock do what they are good at.”