ITALY - Previcooper, the €70m complementary pension fund for employees of Italy’s distribution cooperatives, is looking for at least three asset managers.

The fund, one of Italy’s new contractual pension funds, is moving from a single line of investment to several - the so-called ‘multicomparto’ structure.

Previcooper hired its first manager, Milan-based SanPaolo IMI, in 2002 to manage a single portfolio of not less than 70% than in bonds and not more than 30% in shares. Now it is seeking managers for three portfolios.

The first, ‘Safe’, has a benchmark allocation of 95% bonds and 5% shares, with a maximum limit of 10% for shares.

The second, ‘Balanced’, has a benchmark of 25% shares and 75% bonds with a 30% limit for shares.

The third, ‘Dynamic’, has a benchmark of 50% shares and 50% bonds with a maximum limit of 60% for shares.

The last day for bids for the new mandates is 15 December.

Previcooper has almost 11,000 members and a potential membership of 90,000, although membership fell slightly last year. Contributions are expected to add €20m this year.

Last year there was a proposal to merge Previcooper with another contractual pension fund, Cooperlavoro. However, the unions opposed this.

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