GLOBAL - West Sussex Pension Fund is looking for an investment manager to manage around £790m (€994m) of assets, according to an EU tender notice.

The fund being tendered is one of two balanced portfolios, valued at £1.7bn, which are split between two fund managers.

The fund manager currently invests the assets in regulated stock markets on an active, balanced discretionary basis, the fund said, in order to provide diversification and spread risk.

The intention is for the fund to continue to be managed actively as a balanced equity and bond portfolio, said West Sussex County Council, as contracting authority for the pension fund.

It is looking for a manager with an approach complimentary to the fund's existing growth manager.

This involves a growth index and a geographically diversified portfolio.

Deadline for the receipt of tenders or requests to participate is 19 October.

The council said it intended to hold a bidders briefing meeting on 2 October in County Hall, Chichester, to let bidders ask questions about the specification, the procurement documents and the procurement process.

A number of other public bodies may also join the tender to source services for themselves, it said.

The value of the contract is around £1m-5m for West Sussex County Council, but could rise to £5m-25m if other members of the Society of County Treasurers want to access the contract as well.

The contract will be for a maximum of 10 years.

In other news, Kirstein has tendered a $50m (€39m) Asia Pacific ex Japan equities mandate using IPE-Quest on behalf of an undisclosed Danish asset manager.

Kirstein said the mandate's size, for the "right manager", could be increased significantly.

According to search QN1256, the selected asset manager is to function as the sub-adviser in a Danish mutual fund for the Danish asset manager.

The Danish asset manager requires that the selected manager grant exclusivity on the strategy in the Kingdom of Denmark.

The target is to outperform the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan index - or similar indices such as the MSCI AC Pacific ex Japan - irrespective of the style in the market.

The client is interested only in all cap or large-cap portfolios and actively managed, long-only products.

Neither multi-manager nor leverage will be allowed.

The client also expects a tracking error of 4-10%, depending on process and excess return target.

Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis, the manager search will result in a shortlist that Kirstein will provide to the client.

Interested parties should state performance to the end of August.

The closing date for applications is 9 October.

The IPE.com news team is unable to answer any further questions about IPE-Quest tender notices to protect the interests of clients conducting the search. To obtain information directly from IPE-Quest, please contact Jayna Vishram on +44 (0) 20 3465 9330 or email jayna.vishram@ipe-quest.com.