Italian telecoms scheme appoints Payden & Rygel to €250m mandate

An Italian industry pension fund has appointed fixed income specialist manager Payden & Rygel to run two mandates totalling €250m.

The €1.8bn Fondo Telemaco pension fund has tasked Payden & Rygel Investment Management with two bond mandates “with an absolute return target”, according to a statement from the asset manager.

Fondo Telemaco is the pension fund for Italy’s telecommunications industry.

Nicolò Piotti, managing director of Payden & Rygel, said: “We are honoured to have been selected by Telemaco… by offering a personalised investment solution specifically aimed at achieving the investment objectives of its members, through one of our best strategies with an extensive track record and consistent returns.”

According to its website, Fondo Telemaco also issued tenders for an active European equity manager and a passive global equity manager in November, at the same time as it opened the search for the fixed income mandates.

In February, the pension fund advertised for a manager to run its guaranteed sub-fund.

Speaking to IPE last year, director Marco Melegari said the scheme was also exploring options for investment in alternatives, such as private debt or private equity. 

Payden & Rygel managed more than €30bn for European institutional investors, according to IPE’s Top 400 Asset Managers survey, and was ranked 135th globally by assets under management.