Agenda and minutes

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

In the absence of Councillor Shaun Stephenson-McGall, Councillor Toby Simon informed the Panel that he had agreed to act as Chair for the duration of the meeting.

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest, (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

Councillor Shaun Stephenson-McGall had sent his apologies to the Panel.

There was none.

There were none.

There were none.

The Panel RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 26th February 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Panel, having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, RESOLVED, in accordance with the provisions of the Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that the public should be excluded from the meeting for this item of business, because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended.

This paper reports on the performance of the individual portfolios and seeks to update the Panel on routine aspects of the Fund’s investments. The report contains performance statistics for periods ending 31 March 2025.

The Senior Investments Officer introduced the report to the Panel and highlighted the following points.

·  The Fund’s assets stood at £5,776m on 31 March 2025, delivering a net return of -1.9% over the quarter. This was in line with the strategic benchmark return of -1.8%. There were positive returns generated from Brunel Diversifying Returns, Brunel UK Property and many of the Private Market portfolios, but these were not able to offset the negative returns from the Brunel listed portfolios, given the weakness in global equites over the quarter. The LDI portfolio acted as a drag on returns as UK gilt yields rose.

·  The first quarter of 2025 was marked by heightened volatility and shifting investor sentiment, driven by geopolitical tensions, trade policy uncertainty, and inflation concerns. Global equities experienced mixed performance, with European and Asian markets generally outperforming the US, which experienced periods of sharp sells offs.

·  The announcement by China’s DeepSeek that it had developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model comparable to market leaders, but at a significantly lower cost, had a notable impact on global markets, particularly in the US. This development prompted investors to reassess the long-standing assumptions of the dominance of US companies in AI innovation, which had underpinned the strong performance of major US technology and consumer discretionary stocks, especially the “Magnificent Seven”.

·  Trade tariffs were another key theme during the quarter. President Trump announced tariffs on certain countries (Mexico and Canada) and on some goods (cars, steel and aluminium) which buffeted markets as they grappled with the uncertainty over the severity of pending tariff announcements, that were released on 2nd April.

·  The FTSE Developed Paris Aligned Index (PAB) returned -7.9% over the quarter, closely replicating the performance of the benchmark index over the period. Performance was impaired by exposure to the consumer discretionary sector and, in particular, large positions in Tesla and Amazon. The product’s low exposure to the energy also hindered returns.

·  During the period the Fund rebalanced its equity overweight down by 5% bringing the overall equity allocation down to c. 45%, which is within the rebalancing range set out in the Investment Strategy Statement. This was implemented via the synthetic equity strategy held in within the QIF. Transaction costs incurred were 0.035% (approximately £104,447) which is in line with expectations. The equity protection strategy was also rebalanced to bring the overall coverage ratio closer to the 50% target.

·  Three legacy mandates are in wind down (Partners Group, JP Morgan Hedge Fund and Schroder Property). These are causing an ongoing reporting discrepancy and officers have instructed the Fund’s custodian (State Street) to remove them from performance reporting against the portfolio’s strategic benchmark. Officers will monitor the distributions and report progress periodically to the Panel.

Steve Turner addressed the Panel and highlighted the following points from the Mercer Performance Monitoring Report.

·  Market sentiment continued to be driven by the soft-landing narrative in the US, as a result of uncertainty around policies under Trump’s presidency.

·  The funding level is estimated to have decreased  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

The Funding and Risk Management Group (FRMG) is responsible for agreeing the operational aspects relating to the Fund’s Risk Management Framework (RMF) thereby ensuring that strategic objectives continue to be met.

The Panel, having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, RESOLVED, in accordance with the provisions of the Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that the public should be excluded from the meeting for this item of business, because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended.

The Panel RESOLVED to note the performance of each of the underlying RMF strategies and current collateral position as set out in Exempt Appendix 1.

This report sets out the forward agenda for the Panel for 2025/26. It is provisional as the Panel will respond to issues as they arise and as work is delegated from the Committee.

The Investments Manager introduced the report to the Panel. He said that for the scheduled meeting on 3rd September 2025 the following reports have been listed.

Strategic:

Local Impact portfolio - update

Projects from Strategic Review

Future of Pooling - update

Routine:

Quarterly Investment Performance

Risk Management Framework Monitoring

He said that in addition to these items officers would take steps to invite a Local Impact Fund Manager and a Brunel Portfolio Manager to attend and update the Panel.

The Panel RESOLVED to note their forward agenda.