Mandate tendered by Edinburgh and Falkirk Council
A mandate has been released by the local authority pension funds for Edinburgh and Falkirk Council in Scotland for investment performance measurement and risk analysis services. The joint procurement is being led by the City of Edinburgh council on behalf of the £5.4bn (€6.9bn) Lothian Pension Fund, with the contract open for use by the pension fund for neighbouring Falkirk council. The contract, valued at £2m, is for five years.
£100m of debt bought by PIC to finance Yorkshire biomass power plant
The UK’s £18.4bn (€21.4bn) Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has aquired £100m of debt that will go towards a renewable energy plant in the north of England, with the debt structured as a rare consumer prices index-linked transaction. The debt issue raises financing for the construction of Teesside Renewable Energy Plant, in Yorkshire. The plant will be a 299-megawatt wood chip and pellet-fuelled station able to generate electricity for 600,000 homes, 24 hours a day. Macquarie Specialised Investment Solutions (MSIS) structured the deal, with the pensions insurer buying the entire £100m tranche. The debt has an eight-year maturity and is amortising.
Surrey County Council’s pension fund switches to Aviva Investors multi strategy fund
Euan Munro, the inventor of the widely successful Standard Life Investments Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) fund, has persuaded a key investor, £3.3bn Surrey County Council's pension fund, to switch to his new Aviva Investors Multi Strategy (AIMS) fund. Surrey County Council's decison to divest £170.6 million from the GARS fund will see former SLI star Euan Munro manage some of the money in his new AIMS fund.
