Coal Pension Trustees, which manages the £20bn pension funds of the UK’s formerly nationalised coal industry, has founded a standalone investment subsidiary in the latest step aimed at improving its governance and returns.

The two coal schemes, the £11bn Mineworkers' Pension Scheme and the £9bn British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme, have posted investment returns either in-line with or behind their internal benchmarks during the past five years. The MPS has outperformed by 0.1 percentage points, while the British Coal fund is behind by 1.5 points.