The Lancashire County Pension Fund (LCPF) has tendered a consultancy framework agreement as it looks to review various aspects of its investment arrangements.

The £5.3bn (€6.7bn) pension fund said it might make changes to its overall investment strategy, and that the framework agreement would cover eight different “lots” of services, including asset classes for public and private equity, real estate, infrastructure and credit.

It will conduct a mini-competition between potential consultancies depending on where framework providers are selected for the different services.

The framework agreement will last for four years, and the maximum number of participants has been set at 80.

The announcement comes after the pension fund tendered for several transition managers.

It said it was doing this as it reviewed “various aspects of the investment arrangements” within the fund.

Lancashire also recently announced an investment fund merger with the London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA).

The funds said they were investigating the possibility of creating a merged £10bn investment fund, as well as combining governance and administration arrangements.

In other news, bulk annuity provider Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has transferred more than £2bn of liabilities to reinsurers Hannover Re and Reinsurance Group of America (RGA).

The reinsurance contracts were conducted over the course of 2014 and shifted risk from PIC to its counterparties.

Over 2014, PIC signed several deals, including a £1.6bn buy-in with the Total UK Pension Plan.

The company said its £2bn figure was the largest amount of reinsured risk conducted over the course of a calendar year and brings the insurer’s total to more than £7bn.

Total’s £1.6bn of liabilities has been fully reinsured with Hannover Re, according to the company.

Head of longevity risk Khurram Khan said the company would continue to use large and sometimes complex reinsurance deals to manage the differing aspects of the risk taken on.

Liabilities transferred to insurers via bulk annuities are expected to exceed £11bn in 2014, as scheme funding levels improve and market forces encourage competitive pricing.

PIC dominated the £7.8bn of liabilities written in 2013, accounting for more than 50% of the market.

However, 2014 was dominated by Legal & General, which wrote more than £8.3bn in bulk annuities, including a £2.5bn buyout with TRW.

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