UK - Flintshire County Council has awarded a fund of hedge funds mandate on behalf of the 550 million-pound (834 million-euro) Clwyd Pension Fund to Pioneer Alternative Investments.

“In this highly specialist area, we selected Pioneer Alternative Investments for the strength of their process, their performance record and the stability of the investment team,” a council spokesperson said.

The 11 million-pound (16.5 million-euro) mandate, effective from May 2, will be based on the Momentum All Weather Fund, Pioneer said.

“The case for allocating to funds of hedge funds is powerful, if the credentials are right,” said Nigel Meir, Pioneer’s head of sales and distribution in the UK at Pioneer. “They can bring good diversification to a portfolio.”

“This win demonstrates that we have been able to address these issues. We can offer the reassurance of being part of one of Europe’s strongest banks coupled with a leading product manager.”

UK institutions were among “the most demanding investors in the world”. He added: “We have only recently begun to talking to the UK institutional market.”

Pionner, part of the UniCredito group, has 124 billion euros in assets under management.

Last month Shropshire County Council invested 61 million pounds (91.3 million euros) in hedge funds.

Topics