UK - The £3.7bn (€4.8bn) London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA) has appointed JPMorgan to provide portfolio administration and performance reporting for their alternative investment portfolio.

JPMorgan Private Equity Fund Services (PEFS) will provide LPFA with services including cash management, cash flow tracking, performance management and analytics.

The mandate for the administration of LPFA's alternative assets, valued at approximately £500m including private equity and infrastructure, is in addition to JPMorgan's role as global custodian for LPFA's portfolio, and the provision of accounting, performance measurement, class actions and securities lending services.

Vanessa James, investment director at LPFA, said: "JPMorgan has been our long-standing trusted provider of custody and related securities services, and we are pleased to extend our relationship with them to also include private equity fund services."

LPFA's decision to move the administration of this particular section of the fund from in-house to an external manager follows the scheme's "considerable and growing exposure to alternative assets".

Philip Jones, investment manager at LPFA, admitted: "We were rapidly reaching the point where the increased demands and requirements relating to disclosure, transparency and the calculation of underlying performance either required a considerable increase in internal costs and resources to meet them, or for us to consider another more cost effective solution altogether."

"By teaming up with JPMorgan, we have achieved this comprehensively, efficiently and relatively quickly," he added.

JPMorgan has provided custody services for the LPFA since 1991, although the new appointment represents the firm's first alternative investment portfolio administration outsourcing agreement in the UK.

Huw Jones, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional head for PEFS, added: "Our experienced team will serve as an independent source of finance and performance analytics information, so the LPFA can focus its internal resources on maximising investment returns."

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Nyree Stewart on + 44 (0)20 7261 4618 or email nyree.stewart@ipe.com

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