The Welsh pool, a U.K. pool of local government pension schemes, is looking for an authorized contractual scheme operator and adviser after it received government approval to continue the work on the proposed pension arrangement, said a spokesman for Flintshire County Council Clwyd Pension Fund, Mold, which is leading the effort.
The pool comprises eight LGPS funds. The other seven are City of Cardiff Council; City and County of Swansea Council; Torfaen County Borough Council, Pontypool; Powys County Council, Llandrindod Wells; Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, Porth; Carmarthenshire County Council, Carmarthen; and Gwynedd Council, Caernarfon.
The £13 billion ($16 billion) pool is looking for a third-party operator to provide one or more collective vehicles.
Dafydd Lewis Edwards, head of finance at Gwynedd Council told Pensions & Investments in November that “establishing a joint committee for governance and procuring an operator to invest are the pool’s next steps.”
The selected provider will be required to establish and manage a range of subfunds, manage investment managers and other third parties, as well as report on fund performance and maintain pricing of assets and shares, according to a notice on Tenders Electronic Daily, an electronic procurement platform.
The pool expects the services could include “securing fee savings and managing transition activity,” the notice said.
The contract could be awarded to up to two firms, one providing infrastructure and one providing advisory services, the Flintshire spokesman said.
“If the operator is a specialist infrastructure provider, it could partner with another firm to ensure advisory is provided,” he said.
Applicants may not participate in more than one tender response in combination with multiple partners, the TED notice said. Proposals are due Jan. 3.
The Flintshire spokesman said “there will be a transitional period, but the ACS vehicle framework needs to be operational by the (April 1) deadline in 2018.”
