IRELAND – The National Treasury Management Agency has now officially tendered €6.3bn in passive equities on behalf of the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

The fund said earlier this week that it would be re-tendering the mandates following a review. The incumbents are Barclays Global Investors, Bank of Ireland Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors.

“The contracting authority is seeking to appoint one or more core index managers and/or one or more 'index plus' solution providers to manage €6.3bn approximately of passively managed equities,” the tender states.

The deadline for the receipt of tenders is April 21. The mandate(s) will start on June 1.

It will be awarded to “the most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications”.

“During the year, the fund reviewed its equity manager strategy in the light of experience and international best practice developments,” the scheme said on Monday.

“The overall aim of the equity manager strategy is to channel active manager risk into those sectors and managers most likely to generate returns above the market indices.”

The re-tendering was “not due to any dissatisfaction with the existing managers, but to increase flexibility in the operational management of the fund”.

The fund returned 19.6% in 2005 – taking its total value to €15.4bn.