ITALY- The 215 million-euro Laborfonds says it has awarded Franklin Templeton Investments and Societe Generale Asset Management an initial 10 million euros each, in global equities and bonds respectively.

Giorgio Valzogher, spokesman for the fund, said the administrative board had been “satisfied” with the number of tenders - 22 for the equities brief and 28 for the bond brief.

Valzogher explained that some managers applied for both the mandates.

The selected managers were the ‘best suited’ to meet the requirements set by the administrative board, he said, adding that the fund is not likely to appoint more managers in the immediate future.

SGAM and Franklin, who will be managing new money, join San Paolo IMI wealth Management, ING Investment Management, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch and CDC Ixis Asset Management.

Laborfonds, set up for employees in the semi-autonomous region of Trentino Alto Adige, has 68,000 members and the annual contribution inflow amounts to 70 million euros, the spokesman also said.

Pension funds association, Mefop, said in February that Laborfonds was up 1.8%.

Franklin and SGAM were both unavailable for comment.