The £3.2bn (€4.1bn) North-East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF) has awarded a £100m multi asset credit mandate to Russell Investments.

The investment was completed through a pooled fund.

Graham Buntain, investment manager at NESPF, said adding the fund to its portfolio had enabled the local government pension scheme to diversify its fixed income allocations into higher yielding parts of the market and to reduce its exposure to equities.

“We recognise the limitations of a single manager accessing the full spectrum of the opportunity set, and feel the multi-manager approach provides a better platform for success,” he added. “The [multi asset credit fund] has allowed us access to an all-encompassing strategy at a competitive price, and with a low governance burden.”

Russell’s multi asset credit fund invests in a range of credit strategies by utilising multiple specialist managers. It offers exposure “across the full spectrum of personal, corporate and sovereign balance sheets”.

Russell already provided NESPF with implementation, transition management, liquidity management overlay, and foreign exchange trading services. 

NESPF is the pension fund for the city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray.

German private debt search

A pension fund based in Germany is seeking ideas for a private debt allocation via IPE Quest Discovery.

According to search DS-2339 on the pre-RFP service, the pension fund wants to invest in global developed markets. It is after active management and the style should be diversified. It has specified a segregated mandate.

LD hunting for fund manager, depository

Danish pension fund Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond (LD) is looking for providers for fund management and depositary services via an EU-tender.

The tender is being done on behalf of Kapitalforeningen LD (KLD), which is an alternative investment fund that holds all of LD’s listed assets.

KLD is searching for a fund management firm, which will be responsible for several administrative tasks, including NAV calculations, accounting, compliance and reporting.

The depository will be responsible for oversight of the operation of the fund, cash monitoring, safekeeping of assets and other tasks.

KLD’s current fund manager is Nykredit Portefølje Administration, and its depositary is Nykredit Bank with BNY Mellon as global custodian.

The deadline for bids is 4 September 2017. 

Dutch find replacement providers

In the Netherlands, the €781m pension fund for hairdressers (Kappers) and the €2.3bn sector scheme for the meat-processing industry (VLEP) have found a new pensions provider.

In its annual report, Kappers said that it had decided to transfer its administration to Rijswijk-based AGH.

Elsewhere, John Klijn, VLEP workers’ chairman, made clear that his scheme would join AZL in Heerlen, part of NN Group. VLEP has 77,000 participants and pensioners.

Kappers and VLEP were among fifteen mandatory sector pension funds that had to leave pensions administrator Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer, after it announced last year it would cease servicing them because their pension plans were “too complicated”.

Because of their specific pension arrangements, the two pension funds did not qualify either for a collective transfer to IT firm Centric, which Syntrus Achmea had offered to most of the mandatory sector schemes involved.

Kappers, which has 65,000 participants and pensioners, said that consultancy Mastermind, a transition specialist, had assisted its search for a new provider.

Before the transition – scheduled as of 1 January – the pension fund is to check the quality of its data at Syntrus Achmea. It would also test AGH’s system to ensure a smooth transition process.

In the meantime, Kappers has found Actor as its new advisor on board support, which had also been provided by Syntrus Achmea. It said two of Syntrus Achmea’s staff have joined the Woerden-based consultancy to guarantee continuity for the scheme.

The pension fund for hairdressers is still looking for new advisors on legal and actuarial matters.

The IPE news team is unable to answer any further questions about IPE Quest, Discovery, or Innovation tender notices to protect the interests of clients conducting the search. To obtain information directly from IPE Quest, please contact Jayna Vishram on +44 (0) 20 3465 9330 or email jayna.vishram@ipe-quest.com.

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