The £2bn (e 3.04bn) pension plans of UK brewery group Bass have cut an active European equities portfolio managed by Schroders to the tune of £100m, appointing Pictet Asset Management UK to the brief.
Mark Bellm, secretary to the trustees, says: “The main Bass employee pension plan handed out £70m to Pictet, with £30m coming from the separate management scheme. The trustees viewed that on balance Pictet looked the manager most likely to satisfy the funds performance targets.”
Bellm stressed however that Schroders still manages a significant portfolio of around £150m in overseas equities for the funds, and that the manager switch had been made for reasons of diversity. Consultant William Mercer produced the tender long and shortlists in conjunction with the trustees.
Pictet has also picked up a further £10m European equities mandate from the £250m UK Stagecoach Holdings travel group retirement plan, from a shortlist of five. Paul Goddard, group pensions manager at Stagecoach says the fund is also looking to invest around 5% of its assets in venture capital, with an announcement to be made shortly. Consultant to the tender was HSBC Gibbs.