EUROPE – Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has retained the top slot as Europe’s largest pensions asset manager, recording annual growth of $8bn in assets from $107bn to just over $115bn, according to consultant William M.Mercer’s figures for 2000-2001.

The figures confirm the onward march of passive investment as a dominant trend for European pension funds, with UK passive player Legal & General (L&G) rising to fourth position with just under $92bn.
Mercer says it includes L&G’s segregated and pooled funds due to their large index tracking component.

BGI was the only firm in the European top three to add assets over the year.
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers – last year’s number three manager – jumped to second spot, albeit showing a loss of over $3bn in assets ($110.4bn to $96.6bn).
Schroder Investment Management – last year’s number two – slipped by around $7bn to third position ($100,8bn to $93.1bn).

Significantly, UBS Asset Management, parent company of UK fund management house Phillips & Drew, suffered a further fall in assets over the year, compounding Phillips & Drew’s $16bn loss in 1999 ($88.8bn to $72.1bn).
For 2000, UBS slipped back to just over $64.5bn, pushing it down the table to seventh place overall.


TOP TEN RANKING OF ASSET MANAGERS BY EUROPEAN PENSION FUND ASSETS ($m)

1. Barclays Global Investors – 115,081
2. Merrill Lynch IM – 96,633
3. Schroder IM – 93,120
4. Legal & General – 91,998
5. Deutsche Asset Management – 90,280
6. Hermes Pensions Management – 65,740
7. UBS Asset Management – 64,525
8. Goldman Sachs AM – 43,697
9. Dresdner Bank Group – 33,503
10. Carlson IM – 31,171

* As at June 30, 2000


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