Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Manchester, England, returned -0.8% in the fiscal year ended March 31, and assets fell 1.5% to £17.3 billion ($24.9 billion).
The investment return compared to a 0.2% average return for local authority pension funds in the U.K. The pension fund returned 11.7% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.
In its annual report, the GMPF said the fall in assets reflects “the increasing maturity of GMPF's liabilities” and the “disappointing” negative investment return. However, over the past 15 years, GMPF has returned an annualized 6.5% vs. 5.9% for the local authority pension fund average.
The fund's asset allocation as of March 31 was 61.5% equities, 23.5% bonds and cash, 10% real estate and a 5% alternatives.
Also as of that date, £15.4 billion was managed externally, with the remainder, made up of cash, private equity and real estate allocations, run internally.
The fund has proposed to form the Northern Pool, a £35 billion asset pool of local government pension scheme funds, alongside £6.9 billion Merseyside Pension Fund, Wirral, and £11.3 billion West Yorkshire Pension Fund, Bradford. The proposal is in response to a requirement by the government that the 89 England and Wales local government pension schemes pool their investments.
