Disclosure Log

Message from Nottinghamshire County Council - 12 December 2024

Dear ***** *****,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION REFERENCE FOI/5079

Thank you for your request for information relating to Nottinghamshire Pension Fund.

We are now able to provide the following information:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA"), I am requesting access to and/or a copy of all documents, materials, and/or presentations, including those by external consultants, pertaining to alternative investments and including the below criteria for the period from January 1st, 2024 to today:

From Nottinghamshire Pension Fund
1. For Private Equity, Private Debt, Real Assets, and Real Estate, reported by fund for the most recent quarter available, the following data:
a. Fund Name, Vintage Year, Commitment Date, and Committed Capital b. Invested Capital c. Distributions d. Current Market Value e. Since inception Net IRR and MOIC

2. For Hedge Funds and Multi-Asset Strategies, the following data reported by fund for the current portfolio"s holdings:
a. Fund Name, Investment Strategy, and Fund Domicile b. Initial Allocation Size, Funding Date, and Current Market Values c. Performance/Returns Since Inception

Response:

Quarterly valuations are provided on the Pension Fund website on a fund by fund basis. Investments | Nottinghamshire Pension Fund. The most recent available figures are for 30th September 2024. This schedule includes -Fund name, vintage year, committed capital, invested capital, distributions and current market value.  We do not record the commitment date in our records.  Presumably by this you mean the date the legal documents were signed.  If this is a requirement and you confirm the definition we will need to examine the legal documents individually for each investment.  This may exceed the time limit permitted under the FOI regulations.

We do not publish the Net IRR or MOIC for these funds as this is considered to be exempt* information. Where funds choose to publish this information it can be found on their websites.

The information relating to the direct property mandate is more limited.  Most of these categories do not apply to a segregated mandate.  The current market value is published in our committee papers which can be found here:-

https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/DMS/Document.ashxczJKcaeAi5tUFL1DTL2UE4zNRBcoShgo=TlRPzFNmM%2fLOCz0RaXYFGmkQTo5Iepi3KQ4HF2QGGBv%2fxvHeBb1UPA%3d%3d&rUzwRPf%2bZ3zd4E7Ikn8Lyw%3d%3d=pwRE6AGJFLDNlh225F5QMaQWCtPHwdhUfCZ%2fLUQzgA2uL5jNRG4jdQ%3d%3d&mCTIbCubSFfXsDGW9IXnlg%3d%3d=hFflUdN3100%3d&kCx1AnS9%2fpWZQ40DXFvdEw%3d%3d=hFflUdN3100%3d&uJovDxwdjMPoYv%2bAJvYtyA%3d%3d=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&FgPlIEJYlotS%2bYGoBi5olA%3d%3d=NHdURQburHA%3d&d9Qjj0ag1Pd993jsyOJqFvmyB7X0CSQK=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&WGewmoAfeNR9xqBux0r1Q8Za60lavYmz=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&WGewmoAfeNQ16B2MHuCpMRKZMwaG1PaO=ctNJFf55vVA%3d


The Pension Fund does not invest in any Hedge Funds.

The Pension Fund does invest in the Aegon Sustainable Diversified Growth Fund which is a multi asset strategy.  The NAV of this investment can also be found in the committee papers.  This fund is the entirety of the Inflation Linked investments in the Specialist portfolio, amounting to £479.9m at the end of September.  The Fund has invested in this DGF over many years.  The total book cost of this investment, i.e. the allocations to this fund over time, amount to £417m. 

More information on this fund can be found on the fund website

Aegon Sustainable Diversified Growth Fund | Aegon Asset Management

*S.43 of the FOIA 2000. While we recognise that there is a public interest in understanding the broad picture in relation to local authority pension schemes, there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that there is trust between the scheme and the funds within it. Disclosure of material which could be interpreted by those funds as a breach of commercial confidentiality would be likely to lead to those funds changing their terms of business or terminating their service with us; there would also be reputational damage to the scheme as a result of it disclosing commercially confidential information. On balance we find that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. (Note: we restrict this information even in our internal committee reports on the following grounds: By virtue of paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, having regard to the circumstances, on balance, the public interest in disclosing the information does not outweigh the reason for exemption because divulging the information would significantly damage the Council’s commercial position in relation to the funds.)


 

We trust this now satisfies your request and that you find this information to be helpful, however if you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled, then please email us at [email protected] quoting the reference FOI/5079 and we will be happy to review your request

For future reference, Nottinghamshire County Council regularly publishes previous FOI requests and answers on its website, under Disclosure logs, that may provide details relating to your query. (see link) Your privacy: we use your personal information such as name and address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests.  For further details about the use of information about you, please see the information handling privacy notice on our website at https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/4323566/informationgovernanceandinformationrightsprivacynotice.pdf

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review.   Requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to: Complaints and Information Team, Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 7QP or [email protected].

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, SK9 5AF or