Venue: Ystafell Gwyrfai, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd. LL55 1SH
Contact: Lowri Haf Evans 01286 679878
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES To receive
any apologies for absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Peredur Jenkins. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive
any declaration of personal interest Minutes: None to note. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any
items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so that they may
be considered Minutes: i.
National guidelines for the pooling arrangements of the LGPS investments. It was reported that the Ministry for Housing,
Communities and Local Government was consulting on the management and the
administration of pooling the investments of the LGPS funds. It was highlighted that the response of the Wales Partnership
was being prepared and would be discussed finally at the next meeting of the
Wales Pension Partnership Joint Committee on 27 March. It was
suggested that the final draft response from Wales Partnership be shared
with all Gwynedd Pension Committee members, so that they could comment on it.
It was reiterated that the Head of Finance Department,
the Investment Manager and the Chair of the Pensions Committee would be
attending the Wales Partnership Joint Committee on 27 March. ii. Investing in Green Energy For information, it was reported that the Fund's infrastructure asset
managers, 'Partners Group', had confirmed that the “financing for the Greenlink Interconnector”
investment would come from the Direct infrastructure 2015 fund in which
Gwynedd was investing. It was reiterated that the Interconnector was a project to transfer
electricity under the sea between Ireland and Pembrokeshire. It was noted that news about such an investment was to be
welcomed. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee held
on 21.01.2019 to be signed as a true record Minutes: The Chair signed
the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 21 January 2019, as a
true record. |
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TREASURY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY STATEMENT AND ANNUAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY FOR 2019/20 PDF 56 KB To consider
the report of the Head of Finance Additional documents: Minutes: In accordance with Welsh Government's Statutory Guidance on Local
Government Investments, the Council was required to prepare an Annual
Investment Strategy as part of its treasury management role. As good practice,
it was considered that the Gwynedd Pension Fund (the "Fund"), should
adopt Gwynedd Council's Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) for
2019/20, as revised for the purpose of the Pensions Fund. Gwynedd
Council's TMSS for 2019/20 was approved by the full Council on 7 March
2019. The Pensions Committee wished to allow the Pension Fund's cash balances to
be pooled with the Council's financial balances which
would consequently attract higher interest rates, minimise bank costs and avoid
the duplication of work within the Council. It was confirmed
that the priority was to safeguard the Fund and protect the money, rather than
take risks. It was proposed and seconded to accept the recommendations. ·
Resolved – to approve
the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and the Annual Investment Strategy
for 2019/20, as revised for the purpose of the Pensions Committee. ·
It was resolved to request that the Council (although not a separate
body) allow the surplus cash balances of the Pension Fund to continue to be
pooled with the Council’s general cash flow from 1 April 2019 onwards. |
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WALES PENSIONS PARTNERSHIP: EQUITY INVESTMENTS PDF 58 KB To consider
the Investment Managers report Minutes: Submitted - a report informing the members of the transfer of Gwynedd
Fund's equity portfolio transfer to the new funds of Wales Partnership. Equal
sums were transferred into two funds in January 2019, ·
LF Wales PP Global Growth Fund (Class A Income) (Baillie Gifford, Veritas a Pzena) ·
LF Wales PP Global Opportunities Equity Fund (Class
A Income) (Morgan Stanley, Numeric, Sanders,
Jacobs Levy, SW Mitchell, NWG and Oaktree) It was reiterated that the exercise had been
straightforward, with investments to both funds retaining their value during
the transfer. In response to a question regarding reviewing the fees, performance and value
of the transfer, it was noted that speculating on any detailed arrangements was
premature, and that arrangements would be discussed at the Wales Pension
Partnership's follow-up meeting with 'Link Fund Solutions' and 'Russell
Investments'. In response to a question regarding the timetable of the transfers, it was noted that the 'Fixed Income' asset category would be
the next transfer by the Gwynedd Fund in summer 2019. It was
reiterated that discussions had already been held at the Investment
Panel about these transfers, and that there was interest in combining asset
managers, including two familiar names here in the Gwynedd Fund. In the context of equity assets in specific regions, it was
explained that the Gwynedd Pension Fund did not have investments in the
regions in question initially, but that our equity assets in development market
regions would be likely to transfer in late 2019. It was considered that approximately 70% of
investments had been transferred thus far, and fixed income assets would add
approximately 15% to this. It would be difficult to anticipate a 100% transfer
due to the nature of some investments and the difficulty in transferring them
due to long-term agreements. RESOLVED to accept the information. |