Five London boroughs are to make their first ever private debt investment through a collective £250 million (€285 million) private debt allocation.
The five boroughs – Ealing, Havering, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Merton – have appointed the bfinance consultancy to conduct the search and selection process for an asset manager.
While the investment is currently expected to be £250 million, this may increase if additional London boroughs become involved.
The five boroughs – which are all part of the London Pension Collective Investment Vehicle (London CIV) pool – have total assets under management of approximately £4.5 billion, and the new private debt investment will represent around 5% of their combined portfolios.
Bridget Uku, group manager of treasury and investments at the London Borough of Ealing Pension Fund, said: “The key drivers for investing in private debt is to diversify the fund’s source of returns and increase the fund’s exposure to assets that derive the majority of their returns from income as opposed to capital growth.”
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