LGPS funds strive to make an impact with build to rent
This article originally appeared in the FT’s Pensions Expert on 25th February, 2019.
A minor revolution is taking place in town halls across the country. Local authority pension funds are changing tack, eschewing traditional equities for alternatives, and looking to make a difference with their allocations.
Initiatives include impact investing on social projects and UK residential property initiatives. Funds often venture into this market through private equity partners. With Brexit’s stormy seas in prospect on the horizon, will these changes in direction pay dividends for them?
The Merseyside Pension Fund and the Tyne and Wear Pension Fund are typical of the new breed of local authority investors turning to residential property.
They have joined five existing local authorities: the Derbyshire Pension Fund, Nottinghamshire Pension Fund, Staffordshire Pension Fund, Teesside Pension Fund, and the West Midlands Pension Fund as limited partners with Hearthstone Investment Management Limited, an institutional investment manager specialising in the UK private rented sector.