The Investment Subcommittee of Leicestershire County Council met on 1 October 2025 to discuss the minutes of their previous meeting, future meeting dates, and a review of the Fund's property, private debt and private equity investments. Hymans Robertson, the Fund's investment advisor, were scheduled to deliver a presentation as part of the discussion on investments. Some of the discussion on investments was expected to be held with the press and public excluded.

Review of Property, Private Debt and Private Equity Assets

The subcommittee was scheduled to discuss a review of the Leicestershire County Council Pension Fund's property, private debt and private equity investments. According to the report pack, the annual strategic asset allocation (SAA) review, which was presented for approval each year, recommended changes to the fund's asset allocation. The latest SAA, approved at the 26 January 2025 Local Pension Committee, proposed:

• A reduction to the property allocation to 7.5% of total Funds assets from the current 10% target, alongside a review on how to shape the existing property portfolio.
• A small reduction to the private global debt allocation from a 10.5% allocation to 9.5%, alongside a review of the asset framework.
• Retaining the existing allocation to private equity (PE) targeting 7.5% and consider the next round of commitments to PE.

As part of the review, Hymans Robertson were expected give a presentation. The report pack included appendices covering Hymans Robertson's review of property (Appendix A Property Review public.pdf), private debt (Appendix B Private Debt review public.pdf) and private equity (Appendix C Private Equity review public.pdf).

Property

The report pack stated that as of 31 December 2024, the Fund held £483.9m in property, representing 7.3% of total assets. The portfolio included both direct and indirect holdings. The report noted that the last review of the property portfolio took place ahead of the UK property market peak in 2022. Since then, LGPS Central had selected DTZ Investment Management (DTZ) to manage UK property investments, but the Pool's portfolio had not yet launched. The UK property funds market had also come under pressure with redemptions.

The report pack stated that Hymans Robertson viewed the target allocation of 7.5% to property as appropriate, and that no further commitments were needed at this stage. However, they recommended that the Fund refines the structure of the sub-allocation targets within the property portfolio in the following ways:

• Increase the UK allocation, from 60% to 70%.
• Increase the amount managed by DTZ, from 40% to 60%.
• Increase the amount which is directly managed, from 40% to 60%.
• Remove the specific target allocation to indirect UK property. Instead, LaSalle Investment Management (LaSalle) should be asked to run a Global mandate i.e. with discretion to bias towards or away from the UK depending on their perception of the relative opportunities. LaSalle should also be asked to bias towards parts of the market not easily accessed through direct investment e.g. Residential / Value Add.
• Increase the Core / decrease the Residential and Value Add target ranges modestly.

Hymans Robertson estimated that moving to the proposed structure could save the Fund c.£0.6m p.a. in fees, compared to the 2022 structure. They also stated that from a responsible investment (RI) perspective, this shift was expected to improve the Fund's ESG profile, as DTZ are more advanced in integrating ESG considerations, have a well-established net zero framework, and offer greater control over implementation as a direct manager.

Private Debt

The report pack stated that the Fund's private debt allocation was previously reviewed in depth in October 2022 and the target allocation was slightly revised down from 10.5% to 9.5%, with agreement to this change at the January 2025 Committee meeting. As of 31 December 2024, the Fund had 7.0% of total assets invested in private debt.

Hymans Robertson stated that the Fund has a well-developed private debt portfolio that has contributed positively to the Fund's investment strategy through strong returns and diversification, and that they believe it still has an important role in the investment strategy. They intended to address the underweight allocation to private debt over the next three years through commitments to closed-end vintages that provide diversification and a defined return profile.

Hymans Robertson outlined several approaches the Fund could take to meet the target allocation, given the Fit for Future consultation¹, and considered a blended approach to be the most feasible with only £120m to be committed in 2025 and the remainder to be split between investment grade (IG) corporates and cash.

They recommended the Fund top up an additional £120m to the 2024 LGPSC sleeves (£90m to LGPSC Direct Lending and £30m Real Assets). Of the remaining £180m, they recommended £90m to be invested in the Aegon Short Dated IG corporate bond investment, and the remaining £90m to be managed in line with the Fund's cash management strategy.

Hymans Robertson also recommended engaging with Central in the following areas:

• New opportunistic fund
• Expanding the asset classes within future Direct Lending vintages to include Asset Backed Lending and / or Credit Secondaries
• Private debt opportunities they see in Developed Asia
• Creation of a hedged share class to eliminate currency risk
• Following best practice frameworks

Private Equity

The report pack stated that as at Q1 2025, the Fund's private equity allocation was 1.4% below its 7.5% target. LGPS Central and Adams Street now form the core of the Fund's private equity programme, with legacy investments in Catapult and Patria expected to be fully wound down over the coming years.

Hymans Robertson stated that they remained comfortable with LGPS Central's team's capacity, risk oversight, and investment processes, and noted that pooling continues to offer a cost-effective way of accessing private equity compared to legacy arrangements. They also stated that Adams Street continues to provide complementary exposure, particularly in secondaries and venture capital — strategies that have historically not been available through LGPS Central, and that they remained comfortable with Adams Street's role in supporting areas of the private equity framework that LGPS Central is not yet fully positioned to deliver.

LGPS Central is looking to raise four separate sleeves for the 2025 vintage: the usual Primary and Co-investment sleeves, along with new sleeves for secondaries and venture. Adams Street is also bringing forward new offerings: Global Fund 2025, Global Secondaries Fund VIII, Co-Investment Fund VI, Venture Innovation Fund V and Leaders III.

Hymans Robertson estimated new commitments of c.£110m p.a. were needed to maintain exposure and gradually close the shortfall by 2031–2032, and recommended reducing reliance on third-party solutions and committing the full £110m for 2025 to support the continued development of Central's programme, as follows:

• £80m firm commitment to Central now £65m to the 2025 primary sleeve and £15m to the 2025 co-investment sleeve
• £30m earmarked for potential allocation £15m each to secondary and venture sleeves, subject to satisfactory due diligence.

Dates of Future Meetings

The subcommittee was scheduled to note the dates of future meetings, which were scheduled for 10 December 2025, 22 April 2026, 8 July 2026, 30 September 2026 and 9 December 2026.