UK local government pension schemes (LGPS) Essex County Council and Hampshire County Council have made the first commitment of £1.3bn (€1.5bn) to the ACCESS Pool’s new pooled property solution.
In November last year, ACCESS Pool, which manages £35bn of UK LGPS assets, appointed CBRE Investment Management to manage domestic and global real estate mandates, as the first step in launching a pooled real estate investment proposition for its 11 partner LGPS funds.
ACCESS said the investment by Essex and Hampshire marks the ”progress the pool is making for ACCESS’s partner funds to invest in real estate through the pool”.
Councillor Mark Kemp-Gee, chairman of the ACCESS joint committee, said: “We are pleased to report this significant investment two of our authorities have made to the pool’s real estate manager.
“It further demonstrates the benefits of the pooling model where our member authorities are able to realise a number of positives, in this case diversification and cost-efficiencies, to the ultimate aid of their investment objectives for members.”
Hannah Marshall, CIO of UK direct real estate at CBRE IM, said: “Following our recent appointment as UK core and global indirect investment manager to the ACCESS Pool, we are thrilled to onboard both the Essex and Hampshire Pension Funds’ real estate portfolios, which brings a total of £1.3bn of real estate assets under ACCESS pool governance.
”The solution we have been able to provide to the authorities is a great example of how cost saving benefits of pooling can be reaped whilst maintaining access to high quality managers.”
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