EUROPE - State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has been awarded a $271m (€201m) US bond portfolio by Denmark's Lærernes Pension.

The US-based asset manager - which recently revealed its assets under management had risen to $2trn, while assets under custody and administration rose 15% over the last year to $21.5trn - said it was excited to welcome Denmark's pension fund for teachers as one of its Nordic clients.

The award will see SSgA manage a passive, US investment-grade corporate bond portfolio for the DKK41bn (€5.5bn) scheme, with the asset manager asked to screen companies based on environmental, social and governance performance.

SSgA recently announced an 85% drop in per-share earnings for the last quarter of 2010 due to losses made after a repositioning of its investment portfolio.

Joseph Hooley, the company's chief executive and chairman, said the repositioning was necessary to guarantee greater flexibility in light of incoming regulation.

He said: "Our capital levels are strong, significantly in excess of the current regulatory well-capitalised requirements, and we are well positioned for the implementation of Basel III capital requirements."

He added: "In the fourth quarter, we continued to experience favorable growth in servicing and management fees, and in addition, we saw some improvement in trading services revenue compared with the third quarter."

Compared with the end of 2009, servicing fees rose by close to 19%, which State Street attributed to the acquisition of rival custodian and fund management business Intesa and Mourant International Finance Administration during the year, as well as an increase in daily equity valuations.
 

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