The £1.4bn ($2.3bn) Lothian Pension Fund, administered by Edinburgh City Council, is seeking a manager for a £20m emerging markets portfolio.

The fund has some exposure to emerging markets through investment in pooled funds. This has been handled in-house. However the fund is planning to take a more segregated, specialist approach, according to Colin Hay, principal investment officer, and the necessary expertise is not available internally.

Around 30 companies have expressed interest in managing the emerging markets segment. The selection process will be completed shortly, with the new manager in place by 1 July.