UK - The South Yorkshire Pension Fund is searching for at least one UK corporate bond investment manager to look after a mandate of up to £300m (€326m).

The South Yorkshire Pensions Authority announced in a tender notice the mandate may be split among managers and said it would consider both active and passive approaches.

The mandate is likely to be benchmarked against a sterling UK corporate bond index while the pensions authority said it would mull the inclusion of a small weighting to high yield within the benchmark.

The active option's outperformance goal has yet to be set, although it is expected to be around 1% net of fees.

As of 31 December 2008, the £3.28bn pension fund had £245.5m, or 7.48%, of its assets in corporate bond investments.

UK and overseas equities make up over half of the fund's assets, while index-linked gilts make up 11.17% and property 10.45%.

Participating providers must be registered under the terms of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or an equivalent law to manage the assets of occupational pension funds.

The pension fund is calling for all tenders or requests from candidates to be submitted by noon on 29 April 2009.

Elsewhere, the Somerset County Council Pension Fund has appointed Pioneer Global Investments Ltd as investment manager of emerging market equity for a new asset allocation.

Pioneer Global Investments was awarded the contract earlier this month and will be responsible for managing approximately £30m via one or more pooled funds.

The pension fund currently allocates 67% to equities and has assets valued at £650m.

And Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre Pension Fund is looking for a provider to manage the day-to-day administration of the pension fund.

The successful applicant's responsibilities will include general administration, client management, colleting data, liaising with third parties and providing and circulating scheme information.

The pension fund currently has 524 active members, 433 pensioners and 746 deferred pensioners.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Poppy Sketchley on + 44 (0)20 7261 4629 or email poppy.sketchley@ipe.com

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