Pension schemes under their newly-formed umbrella body, the Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium is eyeing big-ticket investment projects by pooling their resources.

Zamara Group Chief Executive Officer Sundeep Raichura says that teaming up of local pensions funds will enable them invest in alternative investment asset classes including affordable housing, private equity, energy and infrastructure projects which would ordinarily be challenging if pension funds were to invest individually.

The Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium is currently made up of 10 pension funds that collectively command an asset base of over Sh150 billion, comprising both private and public sector pension funds.

The consortium is additionally looking at hemming in an additional 10 funds as it seeks to formalize the association through the creation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) amongst members.

“It may be difficult and daunting for a single pension fund, even a large fund, to undertake such investments on their own. Investing together can help to achieve economies of scale, lower costs, lower exposures and risks and, also importantly, benefit from a higher bargaining power,” said Raichura added.

Alternative investment asset classes are proving popular as they present new opportunities that can enable pension schemes to diversify risk for their members and at the same time expose members to potentially higher returns than traditional asset classes.

Overall the pension sector in Kenya has grown significantly in the past few years and as at the end of 2017 the industry crossed the Sh1 trillion mark in assets under management.

Read more Capital Fm