The ACCESS Pool – A Collaboration of Central, Eastern and Southern Shires composed of 11 local government pension schemes, with assets totalling c£52bn – has appointed Adams Street Partners and HarbourVest Partners as its private equity allocators.
Adams Street and HarbourVest will oversee a multi-vintage programme whereby authorities will have the ability to commit to vintages on an ongoing basis over the term of the mandate. Each vintage is expected to be globally diversified, with investments across primary funds, secondary funds, and co-investments.
For the first five vintage years of the mandate, it is anticipated that the aggregate size of the annual commitments to both Adams Street and HarbourVest will be an average of c£500m or more each year. Considering the potential ultimate scale of the mandate, it is anticipated that total assets across all vintages for both Allocators could exceed £4bn-£6bn, based on potential asset growth, and/or increases to individual authority’s target allocations.
The appointment of the two private equity allocators followed a competitive tender in April 2024, carried out as a two-stage restricted procedure, and follows recent allocations by the Pool to other areas of the private markets, including to infrastructure, social affordable housing and impact real estate.
ACCESS recently announced its intention to establish its own FCA authorised investment management company. Efforts are underway to develop the investment team which will be responsible for portfolio management, oversight capabilities and enable the Pool to provide further value for money and the economies of scale that it has delivered thus far.
