UK - The Northern Ireland Local Government Officers' Superannuation Committee is looking for at least one active bond asset manager to manage a £350m (€415m) mandate.

The pension fund requires the asset manager to have a wide range of capabilities in bond management, including absolute return, global bonds and high yield.

According to the tender notice, the mandate, which is for as much as £350m, represents around 10% of the pension fund's total assets.

The scheme also asks that the asset manager have total bond assets under management of at least £1bn, while the proposed strategy should have at least £500m invested in it.

The asset manager, which must have at least a four-year track record, should also be able to manage assets on a segregated basis, with no or minimal use of pooled funds.

Interested parties have until 4 April to submit their proposals.

Meanwhile, Northern Trust has added $26bn (€19.5bn) in assets under custody for new UK pension fund clients during 2011.

The growth is attributed to 13 new client wins, including the $5bn Lothian pension fund, the $7.5bn Lancashire County Council pension fund and the $2.4bn Superannuation Arrangements of University of London.

Penelope Biggs, head of Northern Trust's Institutional Investor Group (IIG), said: "It's no longer sufficient for institutional investors to have a high level view of their portfolio.

"They need and want to know in depth about issues such as the underlying make-up of pooled funds, counterparties in security lending, industry and country exposures and regulatory disclosures - and they need those answers before they get to work, not at month end."