FRANCE - The €34.5bn French national pension reserve fund FRR says it has launched a request for proposals to renew a portion of its mandates invested in European equities.
Contracts with existing managers are close to expiry, a spokeswoman for the fund told IPE today.
The request is composed of three lots, including European large and mid caps, European small caps and Euro area large and mid caps.
The FRR said it is looking for enhanced management of its European large and mid caps portfolio, and hence seeks managers for two mandates of in total €2bn.
The European small caps lot is a mandate of €1.5bn, which will be divided between five to 10 managers.
The management of the Euro area large and mid caps portfolio should be aimed at "replicating a benchmark whose components are weighted by fundamental variables," said the fund.
It added: "The FRR seeks to award a management mandate for an indicative amount of €1bn."
The spokeswoman declined to mention who currently holds the mandates, arguing that there is a restructure and the renewal is "not on the same basis as the old mandates".
Interested asset management firms have until May 22 to respond to the FRR. The spokeswoman said the procedure is open to all, so also existing managers can apply or re-apply.
Last week, the fund already said it will extend its responsible investment strategy to all of its investment portfolios, following a review of its asset classes. (See earlier story on IPE.com: ‘French FRR adopts new SRI strategy')
Additionally, the FRR has set up a responsible investment committee, appointing two high-profile external advisors.
If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Carolyn Bandel on +44 (0)20 7261 4622 or email carolyn.bandel@ipe.com
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