UK - The £720m (€820.5m) London Borough of Lambeth pension scheme is understood to be ending contracts with UBS Global Asset Management, AllianceBernstein and Aberdeen Asset Managers.

Lambeth officials said the changes were the product of a new investment strategy put in place in January 2009.

As a result, the existing mandates managed by UBS Global Asset Management, AllianceBernstein and Aberdeen Asset Managers no longer fit with the pension fund's new manager structure, officials said.

It is not known which managers will replace the outgoing providers, although the only two survivors are Majedie Asset Management and Adam Street Partners, the private equity firm.

It is not known which managers will replace the outgoing providers.

UBS holds nearly half (48%) of the county council's pension assets in global equity and property portfolios.

Over the second quarter to the end of June, UBS lost 3.8% of its market value, falling from £355.8m at end of March to £342.3m three months later.

The global equity portfolio lost 12.2%, underperforming the benchmark's loss of 11.4%, while the property portfolio also fell by 12.2%, but this time against a benchmark return of 3.7%.

UBS's bond portfolio performed slightly better, although it still underperformed its benchmark by 0.2% with returns of 3%.

Similarly, AllianceBernstein, which manages 17% (£121.7m) of the fund in a global equity portfolio, underperformed over the quarter.

It lost 13.5% against the benchmark's loss of 11.4%, and performance over one and three years was below target.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen lost 8.9% of its market value from a global equity and fixed income mandate that was worth approximately 23% of scheme assets.

While the fixed income portfolio increased from £67.6m to £69.3m, it underperformed its benchmark by 0.5%, returning 2.7% at end of June 2010. The global equity portfolio lost 8.9% against a benchmark loss of 10.7%.

 

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