Border to Coast Pensions Partnership is looking to hire experienced investment practitioners as part of a plan to deliver on its strategy for the next five years and ensure it is well positioned to meet new pooling standards in the local government pension scheme (LGPS).
The pool is currently advertising for senior portfolio managers for real assets (real estate and infrastructure) as well as for private equity and private credit.
It describes the planned additions to its alternatives team as “recognising the increasing scale and scope of our private markets programme”.
The LGPS pool is also looking to expand its portfolio solutions division. It has advertised for a new head of external management, who will be responsible for a portfolio of externally managed and hybrid sub-funds, with further roles due to follow.
The current head of external management, Graham Long, is taking up a new role as head of portfolio solutions. The change is linked to the expansion of Border to Coast’s investment advisory capabilities, with Peter Gent, the former UK investment consulting director at Mercer, recently appointed to the newly created role of head of investment advisory.
The pool is also looking to hire a responsible investment manager in connection with plans to launch a green, social and sustainability bond fund next year.
The recruitments are aimed at expanding Border to Coast’s capabilities on behalf of its partner funds in light of the pool’s 2030 strategy and the additional services and capacity required to meet the government’s ‘Fit for the future’ expectations for the LGPS.
These include funds needing to take their principal investment strategy advice from their pool, all assets to be transferred to the management of a pool, and pools needing to build the capability to enable local investment for their funds.
Border to Coast currently has 11 partner funds with some £65.3bn in assets between them, although these numbers are set to swell as other LGPS pools disband – last week seven members of the ACCESS pension announced Border to Coast as their preferred new pooling partner.
In July 2024, following two years of discussion, Border to Coast’s partner funds approved the pool’s 2030 strategy, the pool’s second strategic phase after the initial phase of its development since launching seven years ago.
The 2030 plan aims to strengthen the partnership’s “collective capacity, capability and resilience”.
Last year, Border to Coast’s headcount increased by 12%, growing to 176 at 31 March 2025. The pool is based in Leeds.
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