The Merseyside Pension Fund has re-appointed Swiss asset manager Unigestion for its European equities mandate.

The company was originally appointed in 2009 for five years.

The nearly £5bn (€6.3bn) pension fund, which currently has around 127,000 members, conducted a full tender process before reappointing Unigestion.

Head of the fund, Peter Wallach, said Unigestion’s investment approach suited the scheme and had a long-term focus.

“We like the fact they say what they do and they do what they say,” he said.

“Their research expertise has been invaluable to Merseyside, where they have provided tailor-made studies to assist with the management of our equity exposure.

“We are also impressed with Unigestion’s holistic approach to risk management.”

Unigestion’s managing director, Alexei Jourovski, said the reappointment was recognition for the company’s research and risk management.

In other news, the UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has tendered for around five to eight managers to join its global equity investment panel.

The lifeboat fund’s equity exposure will account for roughly 7-10% of the fund’s £16.3bn in assets, with managers expected to be appointed over the next two to three years.

Interested managers should be able to provide services based on pooled fund arrangements.

The PPF’s desired investment strategy is with favour to low-volatility, while performance will be tracked according to the FTSE All World minimum variance index.

Interested parties should also be capable of applying foreign exchange hedging to protect investment returns.

Asset managers should have the equivalent of £1bn (€1.3bn) in assets under management and a track record of five years.

Lead portfolio managers should also have five years’ experience managing global equities.

The PPF said other strategy exposures in the portfolio, such as value, small cap and momentum, were expected to be kept stable during investment.

Responses can be sent to the PPF from 15 December.

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