Publica tenders €2bn in corporate bonds mandates via IPE Quest

Swiss pension fund Publica, with assets under management of CHF39.5bn, has tendered two bonds mandates worth just over €2bn via IPE Quest.

The tender is for two passive or enhanced passive corporate bond mandates. The first a euro mandate, while the other is US dollar denominated.

According to search QN-2848, the pension fund is seeking to invest €800m in European passive enhanced corporate bonds and $1.2bn (€1.3bn) in US passive enhanced corporate bonds as per search QN-2849.

For both mandates, the scheme will look to follow the Custom Bloomberg Benchmark Composite consisting of 80% intermediate investment grade and 20% high yield.

Bonds can be held until maturity, the notice stated, adding that bonds that convert from fixed to floating rate, including fixed-to-float perpetuals, will exit the index one year prior to conversion to floating-rate.

Participating firms should have €20bn in assets under management under this asset class and $400bn in total AUM. They should also hold a minimum three-year track record, but five years is preferred.

Publica is looking for investment managers with a proven track record in index replication and passive investment strategies. Applicants may submit either for the US mandate, the European one or for both. If managers participate in both tenders they will need to provide two separate submissions.

Publica will select two separate managers, therefore, it is not possible for a manager to win both mandates, it added.

The submission date for the Request for Information (RFI) and standard Request for Proposal (RfP) for both mandates is Monday 20 November 2023. Due diligence (shortlisted candidates) will be called in for presentations between Monday 22 January 2024 and Friday 2 February 2024.

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.