London CIV, the City’s local authority pension pool which manages assets for the 32 London boroughs’ pension schemes plus the City of London Corporation, has set a 70% target for managing the schemes’ combined assets by 2025.
In a recent interview with Asset TV, London CIV chief executive officer Mike O’Donnell, said the vision is to get to 75% but “it will take us a while”, he said.
To achieve its targets, he added, the pool is continuing to build on its product range and adding to its team.
“I think it’s been another very busy year making good progress, but obviously delivering pooling and delivering collaboration across 32 local authority pension funds is a long-term endeavour,” he said.
O’Donnell said that having the right products at the right time for its investors requires continuous engagement with its clients, adding that London CIV engages with its member funds on a regular basis through meetings, monthly business updates and through a seed investor group where it also engages with potential investors.
He identified private markets and Paris-aligned investments as two big trends going forward – the pool launched three large funds last year which included a renewable infrastructure fund, a private debt fund and a Paris-aligned passive equity fund.
“Our big gap in terms of the fund range is property. We have a number of property offerings, but still need to look at some offerings for residential property and also commercial properties. That’s a big focus for the coming 12 months,” he disclosed.
The idea is to go for UK residential property, investing both in the private rented sector as well as the affordable housing market, he said.
It will then look at the UK commercial property offering, he said, adding that after that there will also be a global element.
O’Donnell noted that London CIV will also look at private equity towards the end of the year to plug “key gaps in our product range”.
As for recruitment, the pool appointed Rob Treich last September as head of public markets – a new role that focuses on leading and developing London CIV’s investments across listed equities, fixed income, and multi-asset funds.
O’Donnell also mentioned that there are a few more posts to add as it continues to fill the gaps for property and private equity.
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