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Seven fund managers appointed
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Decision contributes to diversification and portfolio resilience
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Investment exploits global demographic and resource trends
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£12 billion portfolio means PPF can now benefit from wider opportunities
The Pension Protection fund (PPF) announced the appointment of seven farmland and timberland fund managers (listed below in ‘notes to editors').
Some managers will be funded immediately while others are appointed for deferred investment.
The move is part of the development of PPF's alternative investment portfolio so it can benefit from greater diversification and reduce its overall risk. These investments will be predominantly in land and the operations needed to cultivate and market agricultural produce or to grow and sell timber.
PPF's Executive Director for Financial Risk, Martin Clarke, said:
"We now have an investment portfolio worth more than £12 billion and the size of our assets means that we can take advantage of a broader range of investment opportunities.
"Investing in farm and timberland will complement our existing alternative investment portfolio, allow us to diversify our investments more widely and make our portfolio more resilient.
"But we do need to be aware that there are some risks in these asset classes, for instance land price risk. Therefore, our approach will be to invest conservatively - which is consistent with our overall low-risk strategy."
The proportion of PPF assets allocated to farm and timberland will vary over time and depend on the opportunities available now and in the future.
All fund managers were appointed following a thorough selection process. They were appointed for four years, with the flexibility for two extensions of up to two years
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