UK - The PPG Industries pension scheme is adopting a delegated consulting approach, while Merseyside has re-tendered £500m (€571m) of equity portfolios and Premier Foods is considering longevity solutions for its pension scheme.

Hewitt has been appointed by PPG Industries (UK) Pension Trustees Limited to provide fully delegated investment consulting services for its £162m UK pension fund.

The trustees of the company, which is a global supplier of paints, coatings and specialty materials, have set Hewitt a liability-related overall investment objective and investment guidelines. Other duties delegated to Hewitt on a day-to-day basis include: risk management, asset allocation, fund manager selection and appointment, ongoing portfolio management and monitoring.

Mike Clews, PPG UK finance director and chair of trustees of the scheme, said: "Our trustees recognised that the demands on them require a degree of knowledge and a commitment of time which we felt were impractical for a scheme of our size to meet in house.  Similarly, the traditional way of working with an investment consultant no longer seemed to be the best way to continue forward."

He added Hewitt's delegated consulting approach offered the scheme support and "an approach to investment strategy that we would find difficult to achieve on our own and in a cost effective way".

The £4.2bn Merseyside Pension Fund has released details of the re-tendering process for three equity mandates focused on Japan, emerging markets and the Pacific Basin excluding Japan.

It is offering a five-year contract for a £180m Japanese equity mandate, a £140m Pacific Basin ex-Japan portfolio and a £180m emerging markets mandate, all of which have an outperformance target of +3% to the relevant index.

The pension scheme is seeking one or more managers for each mandate, with applicants able to apply for one or more lots, as the existing contract with Nomura Asset Management is about to expire after seven years.

The tender also confirmed Merseyside will "give preference to fellow signatories or managers who display awareness and support for the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) such as responsible ownership. (See earlier IPE article: Merseyside increases focus on ESG for emerging markets)

The closing date for applications is 23 March 2010 and interested parties should register as suppliers at The Chest website to download more information.

And Premier Foods, the UK food company owning brands such as Hovis and Mr Kipling, is understood to be considering a deal to ease the longevity risks associated with its RHM pension scheme.

Latest available figures for the scheme, ahead of preliminary results later this month, show the open defined benefit (DB) scheme had a deficit of £300m, against assets of £2.3bn.

A spokesman for Premier Foods was unwilling to divulge any specific plans for a buyout, buy-in or a longevity swap but instead stated: "It is part of good governance to keep the risk and reward of a pension scheme under review, and there is a new market of longevity transactions that is part of that. However, it is important to be clear that there are no implications for pensioners, they won't see anything change as the scheme will remain where it is."

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Nyree Stewart on + 44 (0)20 7261 4618 or email nyree.stewart@ipe.com

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