A Danish pension fund is looking for an asset manager to run a DKK750m (€100.4m) local currency, global emerging market debt mandate, or a broader blended mandate, using IPE-Quest.

Search QN1403 is being initiated by consultancy Kirstein Finance on behalf of the unnamed pension fund.

Kirstein Finance said the aim of the segregated mandate was to consistently outperform a benchmark with similar asset allocation, irrespective of style, by selecting investments across emerging debt asset classes.

The investment universe can be local currency sovereign bonds, but allocations to hard currency sovereign bonds and hard currency corporate bonds are allowed, as are small allocations to local currency corporate bonds.

Currencies outside the local currency benchmark are also permitted, according to the search details.

Though the mandate is on a long-only basis, opportunistic shorting of currencies is allowed.

The mandate should be managed actively, and index products or enhanced index products are not of interest, according to Kirstein.

Managers with a track record of fewer than three years, or those without an existing strategy, are welcome to participate, according to the search, provided they can clarify their skills within the asset class. 

The deadline for the search is 22 April.

In other news, the UK’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed six firms to its newly created Assessment Period Legal Panel (APLP).

The panel is the last in a series of five panels the UK pensions lifeboat has set up to help schemes transition to the PPF, in addition to the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) wind-up.

The firms appointed to the APLP are Burges SalmonClyde & CoDWFEvershedsNorton Rose Fulbright and Osborne Clarke.

The new panel, which started yesterday, is to focus on the tasks of admissible rules, equalisation and the benefit specification, the PPF said. 

The APLP will initially run for a two-year period.