AGENDA

Morning Sessions

DEVIL’S ADVOCATES PANEL – MORNING SESSIONS
Miriam Adams, Interim Head of Pensions & Treasury, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Denise Le Gal, Chair, Brunel Pension Partnership

08:00 – 09:00
Registration & Welcome Refreshments

09:00 – 09:05
Chair’s Opening Remarks

Chair
John Harrison
Adviser
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership

09:05 – 09:25
Presentation: Global fixed income
The abrupt end to central bank bond monetary stimulus coupled with inflation has created a new environment for bond investing. In this session, we will look at the prospects for the world’s largest economies and what that means for fixed income investors.

Presenter
Arif Husain
Head of Fixed Income and CIO
T. Rowe Price

09:25 – 09:45
Presentation: Short term alternative finance
As the LGPS continues to deploy into private market assets, there is an ongoing consideration on how to source liquidity for meeting capital calls, the timing of which can be difficult to predict and stretch over several years. Boosting overall portfolio liquidity is helpful during a volatile market but having too much can be a drag on returns. In this session, we focus on how short-term alternative finance, a sub-set of the private debt investment universe, can help improve that balance and diversify the sources of liquidity.

Presenter
Matthew Taylor
Head of Alternative Debt, Real Assets
Legal & General Investment Management

09:45 – 10:25
Panel: Private debt
The last 12 months have seen a material change in the global interest rate environment, with yields on bonds now much higher than we have seen for many years. The panel will discuss the implications for private debt investors and the practical issues for LGPS funds to be aware of when considering investing in this asset class.

Moderator
John Harrison
Forum Chair

Panellists
Trevor Castledine
Managing Director, Private Markets
bfinance

Nicole Downer
Managing Partner
MV Credit

Nemashe Sivayogan
Head of Treasury and Pensions
London Borough of Merton

Harsh Srivastav
Senior Vice President, Portfolio Manager
PIMCO

10:25 – 11:05
Roundtable Discussion: Strategy objectives for the LGPS
In this session attendees will discuss the challenges that investment committees face for 2023 and beyond, and examine what steps the LGPS should take to achieve their strategic goals.

Facilitator
Anthony Fletcher
Independent Adviser

11:05 – 11:30
Coffee Break

11:30 – 11:50
Presentation: The future of impact investing
Impact investing is increasingly a key tool for investors to deploy in their portfolio strategies – but as its importance grows, we should ask ourselves whether we really share an understanding of what it means. In session, our speaker will discuss what we might mean by impact investing, outline frameworks to help align portfolios with environmental and social business activities, comment on the role of regulation and explore what the future could look like using examples and case studies.

Presenter
Soňa Stadtelmeyer-Petrů
Executive Director, Global Head of SI Client Solutions
J.P. Morgan Asset Management

11:50 – 12:30
Panel: Sustainable forestry
Pension funds who are progressing climate action strategies are beginning to recognise the role that natural capital solutions play in their journey towards net zero. Yet forestry is an investment that has been around for many, many years. In this session we will be exploring what has driven pension funds’ decisions to invest in forestry historically. Is that changing, and why? Where do future opportunities lie?

Discussions will focus on implementation considerations, the importance of expert due diligence, and the challenges that arise when measuring non-financial returns on forestry investments. The session will be wrapped up by exploring how forestry fits into a pension fund’s broader asset allocation and whether it should be considered as a specific allocation in its own right, or part of a diversified natural capital allocation.

Moderator
Karen Shackleton
Investment Adviser

Panellists
Charlotte Daelemans
Senior Real Assets Specialist
Nuveen

Philip Hebson
Investment Adviser

Olly Hughes
Managing Director, Forestry
Gresham House

Celine Grace Legaspi
Vice President, Manager Research
Redington

12:30 – 12:50
Presentation: Affordable housing – delivering more than diversification
Residential investment is now recognised as a mainstream asset class increasingly being used by pension funds to provide diversification but also superior long term returns. A targeted affordability approach ensuring the product appeals to the mass market provides scope for not only consistent returns but potentially superior rental growth. In this session we focus on the additional returns being delivered from institutional residential investment, the long term income growth which has an alignment to inflation, wider diversification benefits and finally how investment in the sector can positively contribute to fulfilling your ESG ambitions.

Presenter
Guy Glover
Fund Director, UK Property Fund
Columbia Threadneedle Investments

12:50 – 13:00
Devil’s Advocate Summaries

13:00 – 14:00
Lunch

Afternoon Sessions

DEVIL’S ADVOCATES PANEL – AFTERNOON SESSIONS
William Bourne, Independent Adviser
Anthony Fletcher, Independent Adviser

14:00 – 14:40
Roundtable Discussion: Levelling up – what outcomes are LGPS funds seeking and how can those outcomes be achieved?
The government’s levelling-up initiative has set out an allocation ambition of 5% for LGPS funds. Are the investment opportunities available for LGPS funds, and how can these be accessed?

Facilitator
Jeremy Hughes
Senior Pensions Secretary
Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board

14:40 – 15:00
Interview: Harnessing the power of investment to accelerate a nature-positive future
Natural capital plays a vital role in our economy and society with over half of global GDP, or $44 trillion, dependent on nature and its services. Furthermore, up to $967 billion is required each year to reverse the decline in biodiversity by 2030, potentially creating plentiful investment opportunities across new and existing industries. As a result, nature is becoming an integral factor within investment risk and return. In this interview we explore why and how investors should be accounting for nature risk, and its opportunities, within their portfolios.

Interviewer
John Harrison
Forum Chair

Interviewee
Andy Howard
Global Head of Sustainable Investment
Schroders

15:00 – 15:40
Panel: Achieving net zero
The importance of reducing carbon emissions is widely accepted, but how do we go about it? The panel will discuss the challenges that LGPS funds face in achieving net zero and the key components of a realistic roadmap.

Moderator
John Harrison
Forum Chair

Panellists
James Armstrong
Founder and Managing Partner
Bluefield Partners

Rachel Elwell
CEO
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership

Jasbir Nizar
Executive Committee Member
Lombard Odier Investment Managers

Philip Pearson
Head of LGPS Investment
Hymans Robertson

15:40 – 16:00
Coffee Break

16:00 – 16:20
Presentation: The challenge of transitioning to a sustainable future
Transitioning to a sustainable future is complex and challenging, but essential. A successful transition requires a holistic approach; investing purely in companies that have already made the transition and whose services and/or products already have a positive impact doesn’t solve the whole problem. Investors need to look at the entire value chain, for example, electric vehicles need lithium, nickel or cobalt for their batteries and even the most energy-efficient new building requires cement and steel. By purely focusing on companies that have transitioned, investors are missing out on the chance to engage with the laggards who will benefit most from improving returns and re-valuations, in addition to have the greatest impact.

Presenter
Evgenia Molotova
Senior Investment Manager, Pictet Positive Change Strategy
Pictet Asset Management

16:20 – 17:00
Panel: Protecting the security of infrastructure income
Infrastructure assets have faced significant challenges in the last three years with economically sensitive sectors hit by lockdowns during the pandemic and rising interest rates impacting funding costs. Investors have been reminded that infrastructure income may not be as secure as they previously thought. The panel will discuss the implications for LGPS funds.

Moderator
John Harrison
Forum Chair

Panellists
Karl Byrne
Director in the Climate Infrastructure Group
BlackRock

John Carey
Executive Director
IFM Investors

Matt Hopson
Deputy Director of Finance
London Borough of Islington

Nadeem Hussain
Investment Director – Infrastructure
LGPS Central

17:00 – 17:20
Presentation: Rewiring supply chains to benefit emerging markets ex-China and the outlook for 2023
With deglobalisation, ongoing trade tensions and lingering impacts of the pandemic, the global supply chain continues to be challenged. Efforts to reduce dependency on China has meant investing more in trade diversification. However, rewiring will be challenging, slow and expensive. While China will hold many competitive advantages in manufacturing, emerging markets ex-China will be the key beneficiary of supply chain diversification.

Presenter
Regina Chi
Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets, Global Investment Management
AGF Investments

17:20 – 17:30
Devil’s Advocate Summaries

17:30 – 17:35
Chair’s Closing Remarks

Chair
John Harrison
Adviser
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership

17:35 – 19:00
Drinks Reception

19:00
Dinner: Bishopsgate and Chancery, Andaz Hotel

Guest Speaker
Alexis Conran

Click here to find out more about Alexis.