Plus: Pension Insurance Corporation backs £54m housing venture, and M&G launches asset-backed securities fund.
Aon’s fiduciary management business has taken on three new £1bn-plus institutional clients, including its own legacy defined benefit (DB) plan.
The consultancy giant has been awarded contracts to manage an unnamed £1.25bn pension scheme, a £1bn charitable foundation, and the £2.5bn Aon Retirement Plan.
It means Aon’s fiduciary business – which it also refers to as outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) or “delegated consulting” – now manages more than £29bn across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and £144bn globally.
William Parry, partner and head of delegated clients at Aon in the UK, said: “More and more pension schemes and asset owners are seeing OCIO services as the most efficient way to run the investment of their assets, allowing them a clear focus on strategy while retaining agility in the way the assets are invested.”
PIC backs affordable homes venture
Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), housebuilder Muse and Homes England have formed a £54m joint venture to create 3,000 low-carbon, low-energy affordable homes for the UK rental market.
The joint venture, named Habiko, is a 12-year partnership aimed at enabling institutional investment into the housing market. It is designed to become self-funding after the initial 12-year period.
The new organisation aims to build affordable homes for rent “for those whose needs are not met by the market”, the partners stated in a press release. Rents will be set at 20% below the local market rent.
PIC will own the buildings created through the joint venture, which will be established across England in “areas of high demand”.
PIC is a long-term backer of social and affordable housing projects, and has invested £4bn in such assets to access secure, long-dated, inflation-linked cashflows to back the pensions of its policyholders.
Peter Denton, chief executive of Homes England, said: “Attracting institutional investment into the housing sector is critical to build the new homes the country needs.
“This partnership supports our partners’ objective to deliver low carbon, low energy, affordable homes, bringing together the technical expertise and capability of Muse with the financial capacity of one of the UK’s largest pension fund insurers, cementing PIC as a significant force in delivering affordable housing.”
Pension schemes back M&G asset-backed securities launch
Asset manager M&G has launched a new investment-grade asset-backed securities (ABS) fund, with backing from pension schemes and family offices.
It will invest in fixed income instruments backed by assets such as residential mortgages and consumer, corporate and vehicle loans.
Approximately €200m (£168m) has been invested by unnamed pension schemes and family offices, according to M&G.
The market for ABS in Europe is worth approximately €550bn, the asset manager said, boosted by strong issuance of €71.5bn in the first half of 2024.
