On April 1, 2026, Border to Coast Pensions Partnership became the UK’s largest, and Europe’s sixth largest institutional investor, with US$ 158 billion in assets. We were delighted to speak with its Chief Investment Officer (Mr. Joe McDonnell) and its Chief Stakeholder Officer (Mr. Ewan McCulloch), about the fund’s growth, the current strategy to put that capital to work, and the outlook.

[GSWF] On April 1, Border to Coast expanded its partnership to 18 partner funds. Can you shed a light on the reform of the UK’s LGPS and its objective/s?

[B2C] To put things in perspective, the Local Government Pension Schemes have today GBP 450 billion in assets, now managed by six pools. We are the largest one, with GBP 120 billion, i.e., over 25% of the LGPS asset base. The pooling started in 2015, as the UK government recognized its benefits around scale (ensuring that asset owners are able to deliver value), sophistication (through internal management), and sustainability (providing a cost-effective framework to pay the pensions of local government workers).

[GSWF] How does the pooling work in practice; do you invest on behalf of all funds, or simply provide them with oversight?

[B2C] The individual funds remain responsible for setting their investment strategy, supported by us. There will be slightly different objectives and preferences, and we will reflect those in how we implement for each of the partner funds. That said, they all have the same LGPS liability, so there are significant overlaps. The LGPS typically has a strong growth portfolio, with about 80% of its assets in growth (split between equities and private markets), and 20% in fixed income. We expect both the public markets and the private markets to double in size in the coming years as we transition the new partner funds into that broad-based asset allocation.

[GSWF] What percentage of your portfolio is invested in the UK vs internationally, and how will this evolve in the future?

[B2C] About a third of the assets of the partner funds that we manage for is in the UK, while the rest is globally diversified. We have launched some innovative strategies in the UK, including an Opportunities Fund or a Direct Real Estate Fund – and there is a strong appetite of our partner funds to continue to invest in the UK. We will work closely with other UK investors such as NWF in a coordinated approach. We follow a hybrid model with 50% of our money invested in-house, and 50% using third-party managers.

[GSWF] What is your approach to ESG, and how do you expect to contribute to the UK’s net zero goals by 2050?

[B2C] Fundamentally, ESG is all about managing investment risks. We are long-term investors and need to understand the systemic risks that we are facing. We believe that businesses that are well-governed with diverse boards and are run in a sustainable way, are ultimately able to be more resilient and have the potential to provide better financial returns. So that is the framework in which we operate, and we want to make sure that our managers have identified and are managing the risks that they are facing.

[GSWF] Which key positions are you still looking to fill? What is the total headcount at Border to Coast level in Leeds?

[B2C] We've come a long way in eight years since our CEO started, and we are now over 200 professionals. We obviously look to identify new talent where we think it's necessary, but we have invested heavily in our growth and find that we are in a strong position, so we don't see us growing rapidly from here. We have scaled up to be able to meet the demand for the GBP 120 billion of assets in 18 partner funds and want to continue to make sure that we provide the best service we can to those partner funds.

[GSWF] What are your objectives for the next 5 years?

[B2C, CIO] We have a new framework, and it is important for us to deliver superior performance in the next five years. We will continue to strengthen our investment and service teams, as we want to be a leading, or if not the leading UK institutional investor and the preferred partner for other managers and international asset owners looking to access the UK. I feel the next five years will see much more cooperation among asset owners, and I can see us doing work with sovereign wealth funds and pension funds in Canada, Australia, and Asia, given our alignment.

[B2C, CSO] I have witnessed a tremendous growth since I joined the organization, but at the core, the culture of servicing our funds has remained strong. We are now the sixth largest asset owner in Europe, and we would like to work alongside other global asset owners to ensure that we continue to drive value for the members and employers that we are investing on behalf of.