UK - Cardiff County Council is seeking a manager for a specialist currency portfolio for the Cardiff & Vale of Glamorgan pension fund.

The mandate is valued at £40m (€50.3m) and Cardiff, part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), requires a minimum return of the London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR) +5% net of fees.

In addition, the £899m pension fund is specifically tendering for pooled accounts related to the management of a "specialist portfolio in currency assets", run by one or more managers, with the starting date for the contract scheduled for January 1 2009.

According to the fund's latest annual report for 2006/07, the scheme has a target asset allocation of 75% equities and 25% bonds, in which equities are divided 60% in UK shares and 40% overseas.

In August 2007, IPE.com learnt the Cardiff & Vale of Glamorgan pension Fund planned to appoint a 'panel of transition' managers, each with their own expertise, following an improvement in service quality and a reduction in costs. (See earlier IPE story: Cardiff seeks transition managers)

Hackney is the most recent local authority pension fund to adopt a currency overlay strategy when it appointed FX Concepts in March, although the first half of 2008 has seen both the Dorset and West Midlands pension funds award similar mandates. (See earlier IPE stories: Hackney adopts GTAA and currency overlay; West Midlands awards £1.3bn currency hedging mandate; and Dorset splits £35m active currency mandate)

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Nyree Stewart on + 44 (0)20 7261 4618 or email nyree.stewart@ipe.com

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