Cambridgeshire County Council Pension Fund

The fund originates direct real estate and infrastructure deals through institutional fund managers like CBRE Global Investors, Aviva Investors, and Schroders, as well as through external investment consultants Aon and Mercer. It also co-creates local investments, such as its 50% stake in Cambridge and Counties Bank, through joint ventures with academic partners like Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

It uses a hybrid approach. Most private-market exposure comes through limited-partner commitments to funds managed by HarbourVest, Partners Group, and IFM Investors. However, the fund also holds direct majority stakes in operating entities — most notably a 50% ownership of Cambridge and Counties Bank — and owns sector-specific property portfolios directly through separate accounts.

Cambridgeshire is a founding member of the ACCESS Pool, a collaboration among several UK local-authority pension funds designed to pool investment assets and lower management costs. The fund has also indicated that it intends to shift some operations to the Border to Coast Pension Partnership by April 2026, a move that will consolidate its listed-market allocations into a larger, nationally significant asset pool.

The fund has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier, supported by a formal Climate Action Plan. It has set specific decarbonization targets for its listed equity portfolio and is a member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, which engages companies on climate governance, though it has not disclosed an exclusion-based fossil-fuel divestment policy.

The fund explicitly allocates capital to UK-focused residential and economic development projects under a ‘Levelling Up’ mandate. This includes direct investments in M&G’s UK Residential Property Fund, a shared-ownership housing fund, and an equity stake in the Cambridge Building Society, aiming to generate local social impact alongside commercial returns.

The fund’s pension committee receives strategic advice from two primary investment consultants: Mercer, which serves as its long-term investment advisor, and Aon, retained as an investment consultant. Hymans Robertson acts as the scheme actuary, while KPMG provides external audit services.

The fund’s own reporting indicates a minimum investment ticket of $6 million, with a maximum ticket of $15 million per commitment. It has a stated preference for GBP-denominated vehicles and a long-term return target of approximately 4.9%, measured in IRR terms.