UK - The £1.3bn (€1.64bn) UK corporate pension fund of French defence electronics company Thales has appointed Dutch Cardano consultancy's London operation to act as its investment adviser.

The scheme said the appointment followed a selection process, as Thales wants to boost its investment governance and performance.

Philip Cameron, a newly-appointed full-time secretary to the trustees at Thales said: "We need a pro-active investment adviser who can bring us good ideas and help us to implement them in a timely way."

He added: "In particular, we liked Cardano's focus on the big picture funding level and their dynamic approach."

Phil Page, client manager for Thales, commented the fund already invest in hedge funds and swaps and is considering to look at the full range of investments and risk management tools.

"This fits in well with our solvency management approach," said Page.

The £1.2bn (€1.5bn) pension fund of the former UK property conglomerate Trafalgar House appointed Cardano in July as its new investment adviser, replacing Hewitt. (See earlier IPE story: ‘£1.2bn Trafalgar House fund replaces Hewitt')

Thales SA, whose principal activity is to design, produce and sell mission critical information systems for the aerospace, defence and security markets, was recently named as one of the companies approached by Sweden's First-Fourth AP Funds relating to corruption allegations including bribery of South African officials. (See earlier IPE story: ‘AP Funds in dialogue with 13 firms over 'ethical breaches')

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Carolyn Bandel on +44 (0)20 7261 4622 or email carolyn.bandel@ipe.com

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