GERMANY - German investment consultant Alpha Portfolio Advisors says it has been retained by Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK) for three fund of hedge fund mandates worth 100 million euros recently allocated by the scheme.

Christian Schlenger, Alpha’s managing director and partner, told IPE that while it was true that the BVK had hired Mercer Investment Consulting last September, this had no bearing on Alpha’s “very close and successful relationship” with Germany’s largest pension fund.

“The BVK brought in Mercer in September because it needed a consultant which had relationships with asset managers worldwide. We, meanwhile, were given the important task of selecting managers for three fund of hedge funds,” said Schlenger.

Underscoring Alpha’s continued strong relationship with the BVK, Schlenger noted that prior to bringing on Mercer, the pension fund had entrusted alpha with no less than 18 equity, bond and balanced fund mandates. He put the total volume of the mandates at three billion euros.

“In our view, the BVK was very pleased with us, as we were able to generate the required alpha with these mandates,” remarked Schlenger.

Last March, Alpha also completed asset-liability studies for each of the 12 pension funds which make up Munich-based BVK.

Founded in 1998 by Schlenger and fellow partner Jochen Kleeberg, Alpha is one of Germany’s three leading investment consultants for institutional clients, including banks, insurers, pension funds, companies and ecumenical organisations.

The consultant is based in Bad Soden, near Frankfurt.

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