Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (Border to Coast), one of the largest UK pension pools, has completed the restructuring of its Emerging Markets Equity Fund which, following additional commitments from Partner Funds and investment growth, now exceeds £1bn.
The Fund was restructured to reflect the increasing importance of China within emerging markets. The Fund has been split into two sleeves: one focused on the Chinese market managed by two specialist China equity managers, UBS Asset Management and FountainCap Research & Investment; and one for non-Chinese emerging markets, managed directly by the in-house Border to Coast team.
Following the restructure, which gives Border to Coast Partner Funds access to local China specialist managers, additional subscriptions and investment growth have taken the value of the fund to over £1bn.
Daniel Booth, Chief Investment Officer at Border to Coast, said: “The increasing weight of China in market indices means our clients are better served by larger, locally based teams covering this large, broad and important market. We see China as a key hub for innovation and growth and believe that our approach will maximise our investors’ risk-adjusted returns. We are also driving the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards globally and truly appreciate the support of and partnership with our external managers.”
As part of the restructuring, the Fund’s benchmark has been revisited and will be based on the FTSE Emerging Index with the China specialists benchmarked against the FTSE China Index.
Transition management services were provided by BlackRock, with Inalytics acting as transition advisor.
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