LONDON - PME, the 14 billion-euro Schiphol-based metal workers fund, has switched one billion euros of assets away from F&C Management to new providers.

The swap came a few months before F&C finalised its merger with ISIS to create one of Europe’s largest asset management companies in October. PME is the company’s biggest pension fund client in the Netherlands.

Roland van den Brink, managing director of investments at PME, said the redistribution was not related to the merger, but was prompted by the size of F&C’s mandate (PME’s largest), and single manager risk.

A spokesman for F&C Asset Management stressed the move was due to PME re-allocating some of its funds into commodities, an area in which F&C does not specialise.

In July, the metalworkers’ fund redistributed a total sum of one billion euros to Fidelity Investments (for eurozone equities), to Bridgewater Associates and Pimco (for commodity-related briefs) and to emerging markets debt specialist Ashmore.

As a result, F&C’s Eurozone equity mandate has plunged from 1.4 billion euros to 400 million euros. Over the past three years, PME has swapped half of its assets from F&C and other managers to new providers.

F&C Asset Management, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has around 170 billion euros in assets under management.

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