FRANCE - Fonds de reserve pour les retraites (FRR), the €31.9bn French national pension reserve fund, has awarded €4bn in bond mandates to six major managers.

Axa IM, Barclays Global Investors, BNP Paribas AM, Credit Agricole AM, Natixis AM and Sinopia AM (part of the HSBC group) were selected to manage the fixed income investments, FRR said.

The mandates will run for five years, and involve an estimated €4bn in total funds under management. Classified as low-risk asset management, more specifically the mandates are for bonds pegged to inflation and issued in euros.

The reserve fund declined to disclose details about the number of bids it received as a result of the tender first announced in April. In a statement it said: "The FRR was delighted with the quality of the proposals submitted and wishes to thank all candidates."

The mandates are the first of three planned lots announced by the FRR in April. The fund said the selection process was now continuing to find managers for the second and third lots. Both remaining lots involve active management; one is for investment-grade credit stated in Euros and the other for investment-grade credit stated in US dollars.

Each of the second and third lots was to be for between €500mn and €1.5bn, and spread between two to six managers, the fund said at the time.

The FRR also said in April that it would be launching a second RFP later concerning "government bonds and the universe of global bonds".

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