All articles by Robert Melia Watson – Page 8
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News
Energy companies merger could lead to €20bn fund
UK – Plans to merge the gas and telecoms infrastructure company, Lattice Group with the electricity transmission group, National Grid Group, could lead to the creation a of merged pension plan with assets of £13bn (€20bn).
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German doctors' fund appoints managers for e200m
GERMANY – The €6.5bn Nordrheinische Ärzteversorgung pension fund, the industry-wide scheme for doctors in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, has appointed Wellington Capital Management, Putnam Investments, JP Morgan Fleming and Lloyd George Management to run various mandates worth a combined €200m.
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PMI appoints three new board members
UK – The Pensions Management Institute (PMI), the London-based independent organisation that promotes professional standards in pension scheme management and consultancy, has appointed three new members, Philippa James, Philip Read and Robert Richardson, to its management board.
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Gartmore enters hedge fund business
UK – London-based investment management group, Gartmore, has acquired New Jersey-based hedge fund of funds management firm, Riverview International Group, for an undisclosed sum.
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PRICOA rejigs €195m property fund in Europe drive
UK/EUROPE – London-based PRICOA Property Investment Management, the European arm of New Jersey-based Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI), has restructured its €195m Pan-European Property Unit Trust fund into an open-ended limited partnership as part of its European expansion.
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Morley wrests €1.3bn RBS funds mandate from Newton
UK- London based asset manager, Morley Fund Management has won a £860m (€1.3bn) mandate from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to run the bank’s bancassurance funds. Morley replaces Newton Investment Management following a beauty parade organised by consultancy firm, Watson Wyatt.
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Martin Currie poaches Berry from R&SA
UK – Edinburgh-based independent fund manager firm, Martin Currie Investment Management, has appointed David Berry as a fund manager to its UK growth and income team. Berry joins from Royal & SunAlliance Investments where he spent less than a year also as a manager of income products.
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Commerz sells off Italian AM amid bad results
GERMANY / ITALY – Commerzbank has sold its Italian asset management subsidiary, Commerzbank Asset Management Italia (CAMI) to Australian financial services group, AMP, for €20m. The move is part of the banking and financial group’s strategy to streamline its asset management activities as a result of recent disappointing earnings.
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Bailey steps down after 33 years as Janus CEO
US – Tom Bailey is to step down as chief executive officer of Denver-based fund management group Janus after 33 years with the firm he founded in 1969. A successor has yet to be named.
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Closure of UK DB schemes rises to 25%
UK – Defined benefit schemes in the UK now account for over 14% of the average company payroll, with the number of defined benefit schemes in the UK that are now closed rising to 25%, says the latest annual pensions research jointly undertaken by research firms, the Pension Fund Partnership ...
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Morley launches Sterling liquidity fund
UK – Morley Fund Management has launched the Morley Sterling Liquidity fund that will invest in the money markets and is designed to allow institutional investors, corporate clients and local authorities to maximise the returns on their excess cash holdings.
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Belgian pension association attacks EU directive
BELGIUM – The Belgian association of pension funds, the ABFP, is the latest institution to criticise the EU directive on pan-European occupational pension schemes. The ABFP believes the development of cross-border funds is not possible without harmonising tax and social security systems.
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Roche picks Watson Wyatt as full service provider
UK – The €620m UK pension fund of Swiss pharmaceuticals group, Roche, has appointed Watson Wyatt as full pension service provider. The deal includes actuarial, administration, investment consulting and communications services. Watson Wyatt take over from previous service providers, Bacon & Woodrow.
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Lattice closes its DB scheme to new members
UK – The £11bn (€17bn) Lattice Group pension scheme, the pension fund of the gas and telecoms infrastructure company, has announced it has closed its defined benefit scheme to new members.
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SRI continues to grow but remains a niche service
UK – Over 50% of UK based fund managers have perceived a growing interest from their pension fund clients in socially responsible investments (SRI), although trustees appear more concerned with protecting their reputations and avoiding criticism, according to the latest Deloitte & Touche SRI survey.
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EAMA calls for EU law on best execution
EUROPE- Europe’s largest investment managers are pressing for EU regulations on a common approach to best execution in securities trading.
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BVI joins critics of Riester occupational pensions
GERMANY – The new Riester occupational pension schemes need to be more flexible and simplified if they are to be a success according to Udo Behrenwaldt, a spokesman for the board of the BVI, the German asset management association.
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Fidelity replaces Jupiter at Nortel scheme
UK – The £1.4bn (€2.2bn) Nortel Networks UK pension fund has appointed Fidelity Investments to run a specialist £137m UK equity portfolio. Fidelity replaces Jupiter Asset Management which was dropped by the pension fund last month. The mandate will be benchmarked against the FTSE All Share index.
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Torfaen seeks managers following shift to active
UK – The £730m (€1,135m) Torfaen County Borough pension fund in South Wales has undertaken its three-yearly investment review which is likely to lead to RFPs for about two thirds of its assets, comprising active UK, European and Far Eastern equity portfolios and an active global fixed income portfolio.
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UK workers prepared to strike over DB closures
UK - UK workers are prepared to take strike action to stem the closure of defined benefit schemes, claims a survey by the UK’s largest private sector union, Amicus. According to Amicus, a typical defined contribution scheme generates 40% less at age 60 than a similar defined benefit scheme. ...
