Fondoposte issues mandates worth €1.4bn

Fondoposte, the Italian pension fund for postal workers, is tendering up to 12 mandates worth approximately €1.4bn, while at the same time setting up two new sub-funds – ‘Monetario’ and ‘Crescita’.

The pension fund is tendering up to 10 mandates to invest assets in its ‘Bilanciato’ sub-fund:

• passive government bonds worth €170m;
• active government bonds worth €170m;
• two mandates for a mix of corporate and government bonds, and global high yield worth a total €360m;
• three mandates for a mix of equities and bonds worth a total €500m, of which €110m will be invested in passive equity following the MSCI AC World Index Net Return index;
• active global equity worth €110m
• Italian equity worth €60m tracking the FTSE MIB Net Total Return and the FTSE Italia Star Net Dividend indexes.

Several Italian pension funds have been discussing the possibility of creating a consortium dedicated to investments in listed small and mid-cap, to boost investments in domestic equities, potentially benefitting from tax exemptions.

Fondoposte will also select an asset manager, among the awarded mandates, to manage its investment in Bank of Italy equity worth €20m, according to the tender document.

It will also tender a short-term euro aggregate bond active mandate to invest in corporate and government bonds under its new ‘Monetario’ sub-fund, and one active balanced equity mandate to invest under its new ‘Crescita’ sub-fund, investing in global and emerging markets equities, euro corporate and government bonds, it said.

The deadline for applications is 11 October.

The scheme will set up its two new sub-funds once the tender process is completed and asset managers are picked, it added.

Fondoposte’s assets now amount to close to €2.8bn through its two sub-funds ‘Garantito’ and ‘Bilanciato’.

The current asset managers for ‘Bilanciato’ are Eurizon Capital, Anima, HSBC Global Asset Management, PIMCO Europe, AXA Investment Managers, and LGT Capital Partners. For its ‘Garantito’, the fund uses Generali Asset Management. All firms are expected to participate in the new tender.

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