FRANCE - The FRR, the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites or French Pensions Reserve Fund, has grown to €28.1bn after making a 4.3% return on assets in the first quarter.

It's grown from €26.6bn at the close of 2005 - with the quarter's good performance attributed to "continued benefit from excellent stock market conditions, particularly in Europe".

As at the end of March, the fund still had almost a quarter (23.8% or €6.7bn) of its assets invested in the cash and money market.

The balance (76.2% or €21.4bn) was invested in marketable securities.

Of these, 2.9% was in non-euro bonds, 15.7% in euro bonds, 16.7% in non-euro equities and 40.9% in euro equities.

The fund - which last week awarded €600m in socially responsible investing mandates - said the performance of total assets since inception in 2004 was 20.6%.

Last week the FRR also re-tendered a €16bn transition broking brief it originally awarded to Goldman Sachs.

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