GLOBAL – English local authority funds with more than £38bn (€45bn) are seeking an asset manager to oversee a £250m UK infrastructure fund.

Each of the five local authority schemes – the Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, South Yorkshire and Merseyside pension funds – have committed £50m of seed capital to the project, launched in the wake of a joint study conducted by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum and proxy voting adviser PIRC last year.

PIRC has been appointed as adviser to the funds for all investments.

In a statement, the funds said they were looking for investment opportunities across the UK that complied with their investment return and risk strategies while having a positive economic impact.

The statement added that the investments should offer a beneficial economic, social and environmental impact and could include business development, as well as infrastructure and resource management projects.

Kieran Quinn, a councillor and leader of Tameside Council, as well as chair of the £10.8bn Greater Manchester fund, said it was important fund investments be able to offer a financial return as well as improve economic wellbeing of communities.

"Funds have taken a number of such investment opportunities, and this initiative is not only to establish the depth and breadth of the current market," he said, "but to challenge asset managers to bring opportunities forward on sufficient scale to match the investment allocations pension funds are prepared to commit."

Managers interested in applying for the fund mandate can learn more about the tender process, concluding 5 July, at the fund's website.

The tender comes only a few weeks after the UK's Pensions Infrastructure Platform launched a similar search for managers to oversee its £1bn in seed capital.

In other news, a Swiss institutional investor is looking for fund managers to invest as much as CHF50m (€40m) through one or several real estate funds, using IPE-Quest.

The investor behind search QN1300 did not specify a region for any of the appointed funds' property investments, with further information on its preference available directly from IPE-Quest.

However, it asks that the fund invest directly in property and will not consider any exposure to real estate securities products.

The investor has earmarked at least CHF20m for one fund investment, but the sum could increase to as much as CHF50m if it selects more than one fund as part of the tender.

Interested parties are to apply by 6 June.

The IPE.com news team is unable to answer any further questions about IPE-Quest 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.

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