Wales Pension Partnership

Wales Pension Partnership

Wales Pension Partnership was formed in 2017 to consolidate the investment activities of eight Welsh local government pension funds. Carmarthenshire County Council serves as host authority and Rob Lamb heads the dedicated investment management company. The arrangement replaced separate fund-level decision making with a shared governance committee and centralised mandates. The partnership allocates across public equities, core and impact real estate, infrastructure, forestry and private equity. Confirmed holdings include the Schroders Capital UK Core Real Estate Mandate, the Schroders Real Estate Impact Mandate, Gresham House Forest Fund VI, multiple Quinbrook battery storage projects and the Bute Energy Renewables Mandate. Geographic exposure centres on the United Kingdom with a statutory emphasis on assets located in Wales. Capital is deployed through open-ended sub-funds, closed-ended programmes and co-investments alongside external managers such as IFM, GCM Grosvenor and Octopus Renewables. Assets under management stand at approximately $24 billion. The partnership maintains offices only in Carmarthen and relies on external providers including Northern Trust for custody, Hymans Robertson for oversight and Robeco for voting. In November 2024 it received the ESG Innovation Award at the LGC Investment Awards. It is a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code and a member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum. Governance rests with a Joint Governance Committee of elected councillors from the constituent funds and an independent investment management company. This separation of oversight from day-to-day execution distinguishes the platform from both single-fund LGPS arrangements and conventional asset managers.