UK – The £535m (€874m) pension fund of the London Borough of Newham has appointed global private equity specialist, HarbourVest Partners to manage a new private equity portfolio.

The mandate is worth £10.7m (€17.5m)- or 2% of the fund’s assets- and will be invested equally in North American and global equities.

A spokeswoman for the fund says the decision to invest in private equity was taken at the investment sub-committee’s last review meeting and that no other diversification is planned.

“The money that will go into the new portfolio has been generated by returns from existing investments. There was no need to play around with existing portfolios and there are no other plans to change the investment strategy at the moment,” she says.

Greg Vincent, chairman of Newham council’s investment sub-committee and a councillor there says that HarbourVest won the tender thanks to its excellent track record, global coverage and strong management. “We are confident that the appointment of HarbourVest to manage this fund will greatly benefit the borough,” he says.

The Newham fund has over 6,500 active members and 5,000 pensioners.




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