UK local authority pension pool Border to Coast has recruited its first head of real estate and is preparing to launch a property portfolio that could be worth as much as £5 billion (€5.5 billion).
Tim Sankey, formerly of Aberdeen Standard Investments, takes up the role in charge of real estate and is to recruit a team to design, develop and manage funds.
Initially, he will be supported by portfolio manager Paul Campbell and recently recruited property programme manager Peter Lunn.
According to Border to Coast, one of the UK’s largest pension pools with around £46 billion of assets under management, the real estate offering will likely comprise two funds.
The first is a predominantly direct UK fund that is scheduled to launch in 2022. This will be followed by an indirect global fund in 2023.
Prior to his arrival at Border to Coast, Sankey spent 17 years at Aberdeen Standard Investments where he was most recently fund manager for the Aberdeen UK property fund.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to join Border to Coast,” said Sankey. “Underpinned by long term investors, our collective scale gives us real opportunity to lower costs and deliver strategic investment benefits, including expanded market access with improved diversification and risk management.”
The government pension fund, which was formed in May 2019 as an amalgamation of 11 local authority schemes, has made a number of appointments in recent weeks including two non-executive directors in October and two specialist China managers in September.
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