On the go: The Local Pension Government Scheme partnership has launched a £630m Global Active Emerging Market Bond Fund.
With four initial investor schemes — Cheshire Pension Fund, Leicestershire Pension Fund, Nottinghamshire Pension Fund and West Midlands Pension Fund — the investment will be managed by M&G Investments and Amundi.
Each of the asset managers will receive half of the total mandate and were selected from over 70 companies that expressed an initial interest in the tender.
BlackRock acted as transition manager and the assets have now been successfully transitioned to the selected managers.
Gordon Ross, LGPS Central chief investment officer and investment director for fixed income, noted that the new fund allows the pool to “continue to provide partner funds with the products they require to pay their scheme members and dependents for the long term”.
“We look forward to working with both our chosen fund managers to achieve a strong performance,” he added.
Tom Davies, assistant director of investment strategy at the West Midlands Pension Fund, argued that emerging market debt plays an important role in fulfilling the scheme’s "long-term obligations and objectives, and this launch represents continued development of our strategy for the asset class”.
