UK's Croydon Pension fund to allocate 5 % to infrastructure
Croydon Pension Fund, a UK local government pension scheme, is seeking approval for a new strategy in which infrastructure will be 5 % of its investment portfolio (£656.6 million). Fixed income exposure will get reduced by the same amount (from 30 % to 25 %). Infrastructure has been added as a specific asset class under recommendation from consultants Aon Hewitt.
Croydon Pension Fund already has a small amount of exposure to infrastructure through its private equity holdings with Equitix. As of 31 March 2012, 2.49% of Croydon's total assets were invested in two pooled infrastructure funds.
Croydon Council head of pensions and treasury Nigel Cook said the move will reclassify the scheme's current exposure with Equitix. They also said that currently, the council primarily invests through public private partnerships, public finance initiatives and private finance 2 projects.
The remainder of the portfolio will comprise 50% equities, 10% property, 4% hedge funds, 5% private equity and 1% cash, representing a reduction of 4% from the current strategy.
