We aim to deliver a truly sustainable Pension Fund that delivers financially to meet the objectives of our scheme employers and members.
The Fund may invest in any investment it considers appropriate. In selecting categories of investments to invest in, the Fund has regard, inter alia, to return potential, financial risk, liquidity, volatility, management costs and any potential environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities, as well as to the Fund’s solvency requirements. When considering costs and charges, both transparency and the need to control these are important. Recurring annual costs and charges are a drag on performance.
In accordance with our principles above, we seek to invest in areas contributing to long term economic activity rather than assets where returns are based on speculation or short term trading.
Assets currently held include, but are not limited to, equities (both listed and private), nominal and index-linked gilts, corporate bonds, multi asset credit, securitised lending, private debt and real assets including property, infrastructure, forestry and agriculture assets.
Certain asset classes are not considered suitable for EAPF, particularly if they are not compatible with our investment principles. Asset classes where returns are based on short term speculation or trading, or where it is not clear how they generate an underlying return are generally not considered suitable. Other assets classes are found not to be suitable after review on the grounds of high costs, inadequate returns for the risk involved, unclear or unquantifiable risks, insufficient diversification or effective duplication of existing allocations.
The range of assets we choose to invest in are always reviewed as part of our investment strategy review process. At our latest strategy review process a number of possible new areas were considered. It was decided to further explore an allocation to liability matching assets and multi-asset credit at this time.