ITALY/US/UK - Mediolanum State Street, the highly successful joint venture of the London arm of US investment manager State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and the Milan-based Mediolanum bank is breaking up. The two entities have decided to go their own way.

Mediolanum State Street did not deny the break-up but would not give details.
Erich Stock, director of State Street Global Advisors UK and managing director of Mediolanum State Street, told IPE Newsline: "At present the process has not been completed. It is an ongoing discussion and therefore it would be inappropriate to make any statement to third parties before the final terms are known."

SSgA, through Mediolanum, has become one of the three leaders in the fledgling Italian pension fund market, having won the lion’s share of the new generation defined contribution (DC) pension fund mandates.

Some of these pension funds are now known to be considering their position. Fonchim, an industrywide fund for the chemical industry workers with assets of E623m, is currently using Mediolanum State Street to manage mandates in two of the three ‘comparti’ of its new ‘moltocomparto’ portfolio, which becomes operational in January next year. This will provide wider investment choice for pension fund members.

Andrea Girardelli, operations manager at Fonchim, commented: "The situation is causing us some concern."

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