Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, one of the UK’s eight public pension asset pools, is inviting advisers on a local government framework to help with the selection of investment managers and fund consultants for its real estate investment funds.

The move follows the pool’s appointment of Tim Sankey as its head of real estate investment management last year, as the firm prepares to launch UK direct and global indirect real estate funds over the next two years.

The partnership is “seeking an adviser to support its search for a UK investment manager and a global fund consultant as it moves towards the launch of its real estate proposition on behalf of its 11 partner funds,” it announced online.

With a potential target size of £3.5bn (€4bn), the UK fund would be one of the largest Financial Conduct Authority-regulated pooled real estate funds in the UK, it said.

The global fund – which will look to invest up to £1.5bn in the best funds outside of the UK – it is expected to launch next year with the UK fund to follow.

Border to Coast is using an established local government procurement framework to select an adviser to lead the selection process for the UK investment manager and global fund consultant.

Sankey said: “Investing in real estate is central to our partner funds’ strategy to achieve their long-term pension objectives. We are looking to build a durable, cost-effective real estate capability to allow them to access the best investments, not just in the UK but across the global market.”

He added that the appointed adviser would play a “crucial role in helping us find the best manager and consultant to allow us to consistently source and manage high quality investments”.

For more information contact Border to Coast via email or through its procurement portal.

Belgian insurer seeks bonds, equities managers

Meanwhile, an insurance company based in Belgium has used IPE Quest to search for asset managers for several mandate that could be worth up to €375m.

The insurer has issued three Discovery notices – a pre-RFI tool that enables institutional asset owners to carry out a preliminary search for managers active in a particular asset class or region – for government bonds, corporate credit and large-cap equities.

According to search DS-2719, the active core government bonds search is worth €270m, investing in the European Monetary Union (EMU) region.

The investment grade corporate credit search (DS-2720) is worth €70m and will invest in euro denominated bonds.

As for the equities search (DS-2721), it will be worth €35m and will also invest in the EMU region.

Interested managers will need a five-year minimum track record.

The final closing date for all three searches is 29 September 5pm UK time.

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.

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