Brunel appoints Low Volatility Global Equity managers
PRESS RELEASE, 25 March 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brunel Pension Partnership (Brunel) has completed its Low Volatility manager selection process and has appointed two managers: Quoniam and Robeco.
“We were delighted to receive such high-quality tenders,” says Mark Mansley, Chief Investment Officer at Brunel. “For this search, two particular areas we were interested in were understanding how managers address risk of valuation bubbles in low volatility strategies, and their use of ESG considerations to help further reduce risk.”
The Low Volatility Global Equities portfolio is initially worth £400 million, with an expectation this could increase to at least £600 million.
“We were impressed by the clarity of these managers’ investment processes, and, as always, sought out those whose values chimed with our own with regards to successful long-term investment, while bringing their own unique perspectives on successful investment.”
Barbara Wokurka, Head of International Client Relations at Quoniam, says: “Quoniam is delighted to be collaborating with Brunel as a trusted investment partner for its global low volatility equity fund. Brunel’s focus on long-term, sustainable investments aligns with our goal as an active quantitative asset manager, to deliver consistent, robust added value to our investors. Leveraging our active, systematic approach, we also incorporate sustainability into our investment process. We are proud to be one of the first active managers appointed by Brunel and look forward to a partnership that offers diverse investment solutions to its underlying clients.”
Peter Walsh, head of Robeco UK, states: “We are incredibly pleased to be working with Brunel, especially given our shared leadership in sustainability. Winning this mandate builds on our solid traction in the local government pension fund sector; it also strengthens Robeco’s sustainability investing profile in the UK as the portfolio has a specific focus on carbon reduction. We look forward to a very long and productive partnership.”
Previously, Brunel announced the appointment of FundRock Management Company to operate its Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS). Under this agreement, FundRock will be responsible for meeting regulatory requirements and risk management within the ACS, with Brunel responsible for overall investment management, which we then delegate to the selected managers. “Low Volatility Global Equity is the second of our first sub-funds launched within the ACS,” Mansley explains. “This sub-fund will aim to outperform global equity markets over the long term but with lower short-term volatility.”
Brunel were supported throughout the search by Redington Investment Consultancy.
We expect all the managers we appoint to sign up to the LGPS Code of Transparency or equivalent and are pleased that the managers appointed regarding these mandates are signatories of the Code.
About Brunel Pension Partnership
Brunel Pension Partnership (Brunel) brings together circa £30 billion investments of 10 likeminded Local Government Pension Scheme funds. We believe in making long-term sustainable investments supported by robust and transparent process. We are here to protect the interests of our clients and their members. In collaboration with all our stakeholders we are forging better futures by investing for a world worth living in.
Brunel is one of eight national LGPS pools and will manage the investment of the pension assets for the funds of Avon, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Environment Agency, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Find out more at www.brunelpensionpartnership.org
About Quoniam
Quoniam is a partner-driven, active quantitative asset manager founded in Frankfurt, Germany. They have successfully applied their investment philosophy for 20 years. Using modern investment engineering, Quoniam strives to deliver first-class performance results for their institutional investors. Quoniam offers equity, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, and client relationships are overseen from Frankfurt and London. They manage more than EUR 30 billion for investors worldwide. www.quoniam.com
About Robeco
Robeco is a pure play international asset manager founded in 1929. It currently has 15 offices worldwide and is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Through its unique integration of fundamental, sustainable and quantitative research, Robeco is able to offer both institutional and private investors an extensive selection of active investment strategies, covering a broad range of asset classes. As at 31 December 2018, Robeco had EUR 162 billion in assets under management, 71% of which were institutional. Robeco is a subsidiary of ORIX Corporation Europe N.V. which had assets under management of EUR 265 billion as at 31 December 2018. www.robeco.com.
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