Merseyside pension fund seeking fund-of-hedge-funds manager

The UK’s Merseyside Pension Fund is carrying out a search for a fund-of-hedge-funds manager using IPE Quest.

The £8.2bn (€9.5bn) local government pension scheme is looking to create a longlist of managers, after which it will send a more detailed questionnaire to candidates.

According to IPE Quest search IN-2366, Merseyside wants a manager that has previously worked with a UK pension fund with at least £10bn of assets under management (AUM).

The manager should have AUM of at least £1.5bn and experience of providing investment services for a local authority pension fund.

Merseyside wants a manager whose flagship commingled fund has posted annualised net returns of at least 5.6% since inception to the end of the second quarter of 2017.

It should have an annualised standard deviation of no more than 5.04%, with a track record of at least five years.

The successful manager must be willing, experienced and able to perform ongoing operational due diligence on Merseyside’s direct hedge fund investments, of which it has around half a dozen.

As at 31 March, the pension fund had £53m in UK managed hedge funds and £219m in overseas managed hedge funds. The investments are managed internally.

Interested managers should apply online via IPE Quest by 31 October.

Applicants should disclose the average saving versus the charges of the underlying hedge funds for its flagship commingled fund, assuming an 8% annualised gross return.

Merseyside is partnering with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester pension funds to form the collaboration known as the Northern Pool, which will have around £35bn of assets. In a submission to the government last year, the participating pension funds had said they would opt for co-investments and single strategy funds instead of funds-of-funds for private equity and hedge fund investments.

The IPE news team is unable to answer any further questions about IPE Quest, Discovery, or Innovation tender notices to protect the interests of clients conducting the search. To obtain information directly from IPE Quest, please contact Jayna Vishram on +44 (0) 20 3465 9330 or email jayna.vishram@ipe-quest.com.