West Midlands re-appoints CBRE for UK direct property

The £10 billion West Midlands Pension Fund has re-appointed CBRE Global Investors as manager for its direct UK property assets following a tender process. Under its new contract, CBRE will have a discretionary mandate for seven years, replacing its advisory contract which expires on 30 September 2014. WMPF had UK direct property holdings of £622 million as at the end of March 2014.

In June, WMPF announced that it was taking part in the Investing 4 Growth initiative for social impact investments with other local authority pension funds, and has allocated £30 million to the Bridges Property Alternatives Fund. WMPF pension committee chairman, Bert Turner, said: “The West Midlands Pension Fund is committed to new and innovative investment.” The WMPF is also a founding member of the Pensions Infrastructure Platform which will invest in UK infrastructure projects, and, is also investing with Finance Birmingham to finance small and medium enterprises.