Agenda and minutes

The members had before them:

A.    The Agenda papers (previously circulated); and

B.    The Minutes of the meetings held on 16 and 17 September 2020 (previously circulated).

Ms P Marsh for Ms T Fagan.

An apology was received from Ms T Fagan.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case, 24 November 2020).  Enquiries about this can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

None.

To confirm the Minutes of the meetings held on 16 and 17 September 2020 (previously circulated).

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meetings held on 16 and 17 September 2020 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Sub-Committee will be asked to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following items as it is likely that exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the local authority holding that information) will be disclosed.

RESOLVED that pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public shall be excluded from the meeting during items 6 – 8 on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding the information) and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Summary of the proceedings of the meeting during which the press and public were excluded. (This is a fair summary of the proceedings.)

The Sub-Committee considered the Pensions Independent Investment Advisor update together with the associated investment performance information.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation from Philip Hebson, Independent Advisor to the Fund.

RESOLVED that the Pensions Independent Investment Advisor’s update together with the associated investment performance information be noted.

The Sub-Committee considered the Nomura Far East Developed Equities and Emerging Markets Active Manager Worcestershire Pension Fund Performance Review.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation from Andrew Whitaker, Vipul Mehta and Masaaki Tezuka, representatives of Nomura.

RESOLVED that the Nomura Far East Developed Equities and Emerging Equity Markets Active Manager Quarterly review as at the end of September 2020 be noted.

The Sub-Committee considered the LGPS Central Infrastructure Investment Product proposal.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation from Ian Brown, Mike Hardwick and Nadeem Hussain, representatives of LGPS Central.

RESOLVED that:

a)    The LGPS Central Infrastructure Product business case be noted;

b)   The LGPS Central Infrastructure Investment Product Proposal be agreed for investment by Worcestershire Pension Fund subject to it complementing the existing Investment strategy and that appropriate due diligence being undertaken by the Finance manager for Pensions Investment and the Fund’s Investment Advisor; and

c)    An update be presented to the Investment Sub Committee at the meeting on the 2 March 2021.

The Sub-Committee considered the Worcestershire Pension Fund Strategic Asset Allocation update.

RESOLVED that:

a)    The Funds actual current investment allocation against its strategic target allocation be noted;

b)   The Funds overall Equity performance and its Passive Market cap sector allocation be noted;

c)    The Funds Regional weightings compared to Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) ACWI (All Country World index) be noted;

d)   The LGPSC Climate Factor Passive equity Fund and Sustainable active equity Framework latest performance up to end of September 2020 be noted; and

e)    The initial analysis and findings regarding the Nomura Developed Asia active equity Fund be noted and any further review of the regional allocation be deferred until the outcome is known of the Climate Risk Monitoring Report and the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) audit being undertaken by Minerva which should be early 2021.