GERMANY - Protektor, the administrator of a new insolvency fund for life insurers and Pensionskassen, has awarded German asset manager MEAG with a €100m mandate for undisclosed investment services.

MEAG said Protektor was unwilling to disclose the nature of its mandate.

The new insolvency fund was set up last spring by Germany's insurance industry. Protektor, itself a Mannheim-based life insurer, is its administrator. By 2009, Protektor expects the fund to have €500m in assets.

Beyond life insurers, so-called ‘de-regulated' Pensionskassen may join the insolvency fund on a voluntary basis. De-regulated Pensionskassen are schemes that do not serve single companies but instead compete for pension business in all industries.

Unlike other German pension funds, de-regulated Pensionskassen are not insured against insolvency via the Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein (PSV) or, in the case of ‘regulated' Pensionskassen, the companies they are tied to.

For MEAG, the mandate is further evidence that its strategy of chasing third-party business is working.

MEAG's traditional role is managing the insurance assets of its parent Munich Re. Yet three years ago, it began bidding for third-party business, particularly from small insurers and pension funds whom it sees as its core clients.

Including this mandate, MEAG's third-party assets under management have exceeded €3bn. All told, the asset manager has €175bn under management, €14bn of which are in real estate.