In brief: Welsh public pension to tilt towards impact

Welsh public pension fund Clwyd, a £1.91 billion ($2.64 billion; €2.22 billion) fund that serves employees of Flintshire County Council, intends to “prioritise impact and sustainable investments” within its 27 percent (£515.7 million) private markets allocation, the pension’s deputy head Debbie Fielder told New Private Markets.

Clwyd already has a 4 percent target allocation for ‘impact/local’ investments that sits within its private markets allocation.

That 4 percent equates to approximately £76.4 million. Its impact assets currently stand at £52 million, or approximately 2.4 percent of its entire portfolio. Within the impact/local allocation, the pension has made £23 million in commitments this year to the Foresight Regional Fund and Bridges Property. It expects to have at least the same again to commit to impact funds in 2022.

However, based on Fielder’s comments we expect the remaining private markets portfolio to shift, at least in part, towards impact investments.

Investments through Clwyd’s impact/local allocation can be in any private markets asset class. Clwyd requires impact managers to map their investments against the UN’s sustainable development goals, but Fielder said it is “too early” for the pension to require funds to meet Article 9 criteria for impact funds within the EU’s SFDR.