The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has released a new statement of investment principles (SIP), which sets out its aim to significantly alter its diversification strategies.

Ian McKinlay, PPF chief investment officer, told Pensions Age that the biggest change will be a new focus on private equity and infrastructure.

McKinlay explained that the choice of private equity stemmed from a need to find incremental additional performance, which private equity, the PPF has judged, can better deliver than listed equities.

As for infrastructure, this was a better defensive asset he felt, than property, which made up most of the PPF's previous alternatives strategy: "Railways, roads, water, regulated businesses, (these) have stable revenues and cash flow," he said.

The PPF's responsible investment principles have also been extended, which presently just cover UK equities. This will now extend to global equities and across all the classes in which the PPF invests.

"We have never pushed responsible investment per say, it has always been part of our investment principles," he said.

McKinlay revealed that the next few months could see moves forward in the investment side: "We will probably see a tender for infrastructure managers," and that we "may see managers lined up for the private equity side".

Share Story: