In March, London-based infrastructure GP Equitix will gain two new employees. GLIL Infrastructure’s now former chief operating officer, Ted Frith, will take up a new position, as will Local Pensions Partnership Investments’ (LPPI) head of real assets, Simon Davy, sources close to proceedings confirm to Infrastructure Investor.

LPPI is the alternative investment fund manager for GLIL and manages GLIL’s portfolio of assets. A spokesperson for LPPI and GLIL said: “Simon Davy and Ted Frith have been an integral part of our success over many years, leading us to become one of the UK’s leading investors in real assets. We wish them all the best for the future.”

At Equitix, Frith will be head of business development, UK. He will be working with and for the managing director for business development and investor relations, John Haan, focusing on further developing the UK business.

Davy will serve as managing director of investments.

For Frith, the change from GLIL to Equitix will be accompanied by a significant increase in the size of the portfolio under consideration. While GLIL Infrastructure has £4.1 billion ($5.4 billion; €4.9 billion) in assets under management from six UK local government pension schemes as well as the UK’s National Employment Savings Trust, Equitix has more than $14 billion in AUM.

It is believed that the new hires will be working on growing Equitix’s already expansive UK portfolio. With a majority of Equitix’s LPs being pension funds, and most of these UK-based, a continued focus on investing in UK’s infrastructure may well find favour with the client base.

Recent fund performance

• Equitix Fund VI (2020 vintage) DPI: 0.04x; TVPI: 1.09x
• Equitix Fund V (2018 vintage) DPI: 0.24x; TVPI: 1.28x

Sources: Infrastructure Investor’s data as of 30 June 2024, citing information from the Strathclyde Pension Fund. Subscribers can view here.

Strathclyde Pension Fund, Norfolk County Council Pension Fund and Staffordshire County Council Pension Fund are all known investors in Equitix funds, and the GP has several funds in the market, with the seventh flagship, Equitix Fund VII, launched in July 2022 with a target of £1.5 billion. An inaugural UK electricity storage fund with a £1 billion target was launched in June 2023.

For GLIL and LPPI, the two departures come at a critical time with the new UK government keen to engage more directly with the set-up of the public pension funds. The UK currently has 86 local government pension schemes, and the government has voiced ambitions for a system with fewer and larger Canadian-style entities.

GLIL is owned by a selection of UK pension funds, while Equitix is owned by TFG Asset Management, which is majority-owned by Tetragon Financial Group, which again is majority owned by Reade Griffith and Paddy Dear.

Updated to clarify Ted Frith’s new position.