EUROPE - The consultancy firm Kirstein Finance is looking for an asset manager on behalf of a number of Danish institutional clients to invest $110m (€80m) in senior bank loans, using IPE Quest.

In the search QN1212, Kirstein asks that the selected manager be able to offer the strategy in a fund structure, investing in European, US or a combination of the two regions' senior bank loans.

It places no restrictions on the style adopted by the asset manager, but requires the fund to outperform the S&P European Leveraged Loan index (ELLI), the S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan index (LLI) or other similar benchmarks.

The asset manager will adopt an opportunistic investment approach and invest in long-term products only.

The Danish institutional investors will allow the use of derivatives within the fund, but exclude any leveraged products.

The clients' total mandate size is expected to be around $110m, with possibilities for future increases.

Interested parties should apply by 10 November.

Meanwhile, the €700m Dutch pension fund Stichting Pensioenfonds SABIC Innovative Plastics has appointed State Street Corporation to provide custody, accounting, monthly performance measurement and currency overlay services.

Arthur Smit, managing director of Stichting Pensioenfonds SABIC Innovative Plastics, cited State Street's ability to support the pension assets with a wide range of comprehensive investment servicing solutions.

Another subsidiary of State Street, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), has been awarded a €82m fixed income mandate by the BNL/BNP Paribas Employees' pension fund in Italy.

Under the agreement, SSgA will run a fixed income portfolio targeting a composite benchmark made of JPM Global GBI EMU IG - 50% - and Barcap Inflation Linked GBI euro - 50% - indices.

The mandate will be managed by the SSgA active fixed income team based in London.

Moving to the UK, the Royal County of Berkshire pension fund has appointed JP Morgan's Worldwide Securities Services (WSS) to provide global custody and related services.

Under the agreement, JP Morgan WSS will provide custody, accounting, performance measurement, private equity and fund order routing settlement services for the UK pension fund.

Finally, Baring Asset Management has been selected by the Volkswagen Group UK pension scheme to manage 25% of its DC default assets - £23m (€26.3m) in total - within the Baring Multi Asset fund.

The Baring Multi Asset aims to deliver long-term equity-like returns, defined as UK RPI inflation plus 4%, but with considerably less risk, through a dynamic asset allocation.
 
Roy Platten, group pensions manager at Volkswagen, said: "Barings' top-down consistent asset allocation approach to multi-asset investing fits well with our desire to be innovative in our investment strategy and provide the best opportunities for growth in our member's assets."