The Lord Chancellor Investment Fund

Tender description

The requirement is for the appointment of an investment manager to manage and control the Lord Chancellor's Investment Fund. For the provision of and the management of suitable investment vehicles for funds held in court which are subject to the provision of the Lord Chancellor's Common Investment Fund (CIF) Lot 1: The CIF currently contains one product, the Equity Index Tracker Fund, which is for higher value clients. It is based on three underlying funds: Future World UK Equity Index, Future World Developed Equities Index and Global Emerging Markets (L class). The total Fund is split 55%, 35%, 10% among these three vehicles. Total value of the Fund as at 31 March 2022, value circa £95.7m covering circa 4,820,051 units. The Lord Chancellor also manages a range of lower value or shorter term client deposits out with the CIF via deposit accounts currently paying 1.25% - see additional information for further details. The Authority wishes to revisit the market in order to establish whether there may be other suitable investment products for a new arrangement covering both the current CIF funds and also some circa £100m - £200m of the other funds. The aims of any future product within the CIF would be to provide relatively secure investment returns (medium to low risk) and capital growth for those with less to invest and/or a shorter term horizon. This might require more than one product to cover the differing needs in terms of shorter term and longer term clients, or providing for clients who may have a need for income as well as capital growth. Protection against capital loss might be achieved via risk mitigation or diversification measures. The risk profile means that passive/index-based approaches to asset classes are expected to be used. The Authority requires that companies managing CIF funds are registered in the UK. The estimated value of £350m is a forecast of future needs based on the amount of funds currently being managed inside and outside the existing CIF but which may become subject to a future CIF if suitable products are available. It is envisaged that the term of the contract will be 5 years with provision to extend for a further 2 years (7 years in total).