UK - Synesis Life, the new pensions liability buyout firm, has appointed Capita Hartshead as third party administrator and said it is looking for one or more asset managers with a fixed-income focus.

"Asset management will also be outsourced. Our overall model is to outsource those aspects of our business for which there is a supply of providers and where we feel that we are not giving away intellectual property," Jay Shah, corporate development director at Synesis told IPE.

Synesis was launched in May by former staff of insurer Prudential.

Shah said that it was not yet clear whether only one or more asset managers will be appointed. "The type of assets that back our business predominantly tend to be fixed interest securities. It will be no surprise that whoever we chose will be strong in that particular sector."

Capita Hartshead was chosen as it is "the largest specialist pensions administration provider in the UK", a press release stated.

"We are keeping those parts of the business in house where we believe we are creating intellectual value such as pricing, mortality assessment, setting the investment strategy as opposed to who actually manages the assets." Shah pointed out that for the latter part of Synesis business it has appointed Gavin Hill, former CEO at GE Asset Management, a few weeks ago.

Synesis Life's business plan over the medium-term is aimed at £7bn-£10bn in liabilities, which depending on the type of scheme would translate into several hundred thousands of members.


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