The Merseyside Pension Fund (MPF) has invested £400m in a new All World Equity Climate Balanced Multi-Factor Index Sub-Fund.

In November 2018, MPF announced that it had selected a Smart-Sustainability Index from FTSE Russell, to support the implementation of its Climate Risk Strategy within the fund’s listed equity portfolio. The fund is being managed on behalf of MPF by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). The objective of MPF’s climate strategy is to align its Responsible Investment policy and activities with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. As part of this, the Fund has considered options for capturing both the risks and opportunities arising from climate change.

XPS Pensions Group has been appointed by the Johnson Controls and Tyco pension schemes to provide pensions and investment advice.

Johnson Controls International was formed following the merger of Johnson Controls, a global multi-industrial company, and Tyco, a global fire and security provider, in September 2016. Each has a pension scheme totalling over £1bn. Johnson Controls decided not to merge the schemes as the vast majority of cost savings and synergies could be achieved through creating one trustee board and rationalising advisers.

The pension market’s first specialist independent bulk annuity and consolidator advisory business, K3 Advisory, has been launched.

K3 will provide advice and broking services for pension scheme sponsors and trustees looking to transfer all or part of their pension liabilities to either bulk annuity providers or non-insured consolidation vehicles. As well as working directly with companies and their schemes, K3 is already working with other pension consultancies across the industry to enhance their credentials and services in the buyout field.

The Squire Patton Boggs Pension Practice Group in the UK has been reappointed to the National Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) Frameworks’ new procurement framework for legal services.

The National LGPS Frameworks is a well-established not-for-profit LGPS initiative. Procurement frameworks under this initiative are open to all LGPS fund authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Using the National LGPS Frameworks saves LGPS Funds significant time and money by allowing quicker and more efficient procurement of high-quality and value for money services. The previous National LGPS Framework for Legal Services, launched in 2015, was widely used across the LGPS Funds, LGPS Pools and other public sector bodies, providing swift and easy access to a wide range of reliable, good value expert legal specialists and services.

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