UK – The London Borough of Hackney pension fund has announced the appointment of a series of specialist managers for its 350 million pound (509 million euro) scheme.

Following an asset-liability study and strategy review last year, the east London borough decided to switch out of a balance manager approach towards a more specialist approach. The fund was being managed by Barclays Global Investors, which were responsible for 51% of the scheme’s assets, an in-house team, which invested 33% of the fund in a passive index trade. The remainder was invested in property with Credit Suisse.

BGI and the in-house team have now been replaced by: AXA Rosenberg and Allianz Dresdner, which will each manage 25% of the fund in active global equities; UBS Asset Management, which will run 20% of the fund in passive UK equities tracking the FTSE all shares index; and ISIS which will manage17% of the scheme’s asset in active fixed interest investments.

Credit Suisse’s property mandate is still being reviewed. Presently properties are managed in a segregated fund, and members are reviewing the options of using a manager that operates a pooled fund. If the decision to switch to a pooled fund is made, tendering will commence this summer.


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