FRANCE - The French government has set the ball rolling on one of the world’s largest institutional RFPs with the formal naming yesterday (February 6) of the executive committee that will administer the 13 billion euro French pensions reserve fund (Le fonds de réserve).

The three-man committee, comprised of Francis Mayer, chief executive officer of France’s Caisse des Dépôts, Phillipe Most and Antoine de Salins, are now expected to begin processing the submissions made by consultants to advise on the investment strategy for the fund.

The consultant RFP was put out to tender on December 25 last year.

A source close to the Fonds de Réserve said that the committee will begin assessing the RFP within the next week before making a decision in the latter half of March.

The source added that the consultants are likely to offer advice on investment issues, but will have minimal input on the selection of managers.

In terms of the RFP for investment managers, a likely time-frame for the tender process is that it will be started by the end of May/start of June, with a final decision on managers expected during October, the source added.

The investment manager selection decisions will be made by the new executive committee using advice given by an independent four-person professional panel.

It is not known how many managers will be taken on to run the assets of the fund.

The investment mandates for the Fonds de Réserve are as important for their possible future inflows as for the amount on offer today.

The original objective for the fund was to reach e150bn by 2020 in a bid to plug the future liabilities for the country’s pensions system until the worst of the pending demographic squeeze has passed.

However, receipts for the fund have not been good to date and few in France believe that the original 150 billion euro goal is now feasible.

The fund’s objectives will discussed by the government as part of its pension reform programme this year.

However, at least 1.5-2 billion euros is expected to be added to the fund each year.

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