Fondaereo selects asset managers as it sets up new sub-funds

Fondaereo, the Italian pension fund for pilots and flight attendants, is selecting managers to invest assets worth €265m in two new sub-funds – ‘Obbligazionario’ for investments in bonds and ‘Azionario’ investing in equities.

The scheme will pick up to two asset managers to hand out “active bond” mandates to invest assets amounting to approximately €100m, the scheme said.

The manager can invest up to 50% of the assets held in the sub-fund ‘Obbligazionario’ in corporate bonds, 10% in bonds issued by public institutions or corporates that are not part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) area, it added.

It can also invest up to 10% of the sub-fund’s assets in subordinated debt instruments, hybrid instruments and securities resulting from securitization transactions, and up to 10% in high-yield bonds.

The manager should prioritise direct investment in securities with the possibility to opt for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and ETFs, it added.

Another selected asset manager will invest close to €165m through a “semi-passive equity” mandate. The scheme has set a 5% limit of total assets held in the ‘Azionario’ sub-fund as the maximum exposure to a single issuer, it added.

The scheme will also discuss with the asset manager the possibility of introducing a quota for investments in listed Italian SMEs, potentially following in the footsteps of industry-wide pension funds that are considering investing in Italian SMEs.

In January, the Fondaereo board of directors decided to move forward with setting up two new sub-funds for bond and equity investments. The two new sub-funds  – ‘Obbligazionario’ and ‘Azionario’ – replace the current ‘Equilibrio’ and ‘Crescita’, both run by Amundi and AXA Investment Management.

Fondaereo continues to reorganise its asset management structure, after reducing the number of sub-funds, and starting three new investment options in 2023.

‘Equililbrio’, now renamed ‘Obbligazionario’, was established after merging the ‘Prevalentemente Obbligazionario/Protezione’, and ‘Bilanciato/Equilibrio’ sub-funds.

The scheme decided at the time to increase investments in bonds to 70% of its assets in the ‘Equilibrio’ sub-fund, compared to 65% previously, and to cut its exposure to equities to 30%, compared to 35% targeted before the merger of the sub-funds.

Fondaereo also decided to rename the sub-fund ‘Prevalentemente Azionario/Crescita’ as ‘Crescita’, investing 70% of its assets in equities and 30% in bonds.

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