Environment Agency Pension Fund, Bristol, England, appointed The Townsend Group to run a global portfolio of real assets estimated to total about £240 million ($369 million) over the next two years, according to Howard Pearce, head of environmental finance and pension fund management.
The £2.1 billion pension fund will initially fund the mandate by transferring a £60 million real estate portfolio managed by Aviva Investors. The remainder will likely be gradually funded with new cash inflows and/or reducing equities. EAPF's global real assets portfolio, which will account for 12% of total assets by 2014, is split with five percentage points allocated to real estate, 3.5 percentage points to infrastructure and another 3.5 percentage points to forestry and farmland.
Mercer and bfinance advised.
