FINLAND - The €460m pension fund for Suomen Pankki, the Bank of Finland, has awarded a number of asset management mandates relating to real estate and equities.

Equity mandates covering both European and global equities have been awarded by the scheme to State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), which will manage between €100,000 and €150,000 in assets, while Icecapital Asset Management's equities team will take responsibility for a portfolio valued at up to €150,000.

State Street was awarded its contract on April 1 2008 for a period of one year, while Icecapital has secured a two-year contract, which began on January 22 2008.

The Bank of Finland pension fund chose the two firms from 24 tender submissions, based on the most economically advantageous submission in terms of total costs, practical issues and securities lending.

Meanwhile, the pension fund also confirmed it appointed Pohjola Varainhoito Oy, part of the Pohjola Banking Group, to run a four-year real estate mandate, valued at €100,000, starting on April 30 2008.

This is the second real estate mandate the pension fund has awarded as it previously appointed Aberdeen Property Investors Finland Oy, to manage a portfolio valued at approximately €10m in a fund that invests in areas outside of the country's major cities. (See earlier IPE story: Bank of Finland scheme awards real estate mandate)

The Bank of Finland Pension Fund is valued at around €460m, although the Bank's annual report for 2007 revealed the fund had liabilities of €489.5m and reserves of €479.1m at the end of December, which means the scheme can cover 97.9% of its liabilities.

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