UK - The pension scheme of hearing and optical products firm Bateman has awarded Threadneedle’s MM Asset Management a 20 million-pound (29.9 million-euros) multi-manager mandate.

Nick Slater, director of marketing and client services at MM – formerly known as Attica Asset Management – said the G.C. Bateman Group Pension and Life Assurance Scheme brief was awarded with immediate effect.

MM, whose major stakeholder is Threadneedle Asset Management, changed its name in February. It said assets under management doubled to 500 million pounds in 2003.

“We are extremely pleased to have appointed by Bateman and look forwards to building a successful, long-term relationship,” Slater said.

Colin Franklin, Bateman’s director of personnel and a trustee of the scheme, said MM was chosen after “a detailed review of various investment companies”. He added that MM had won the trustees’ confidence with its investment process and knowledge of investment managers.

“Importantly, MM’s ownership structure directly aligns the interests of MM’s senior team with those of the trustees,” Franklin said in a statement.

“We are delighted with these new business wins,” Slater said, adding the company was looking forward to “developing a number of strategic distribution opportunities both in the UK and overseas”.