UK – Schroders has been axed from a £500m (€731m) mandate by the £2bn Cheshire County Council pension fund following poor performance.

The brief has been split between four managers, with Standard Life Investments awarded a £225m UK equities mandate.

Global investment management firm GMO was awarded a £215m global equities brief, and the remaining bond mandate was split between the scheme’s existing managers Baillie Gifford and Legal & General.

According to fund accountant Nick Jones, “poor performance” was the reason for dumping Schroders. A spokesman at the fund management firm declined to comment.

The tendering process lasted roughly six months, and Hymans Robertson advised the scheme.

According to Standard Life’s investment director for UK local authorities, Chris Morawiecki, this is “one of our biggest local authority wins in the UK to date”.

Other recent wins for Standard Life include Somerset County Council (£175m), Leicestershire County Council (£150m), and the Staffordshire County Council (£200m). It now manages more than £2.5bn of UK local authority mandates.

Cheshire County Council finance officer Bill Tunnicliffe said: “This appointment has been part of an ongoing review of our asset allocation… We look forward to a long and successful partnership moving forward.”

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