The Pensions Trust has appointed Invesco Perpetual to manage a multi-asset diversified growth fund.

The £7bn (€10bn) multi-employer defined benefit (DB) scheme for charities and not-for-profits said it would allocate £101m to Invesco’s fund, which targets a return of LIBOR+5% but with a lower volatility than global equities.

David Adkins, CIO of the trust, said the team’s track record spoke for itself and that Invesco’s target was ideal for The Pension Trust’s own investment strategy.

Invesco started the fund in 2013 after hiring the three lead managers from Standard Life Investment, where they worked on its own diversified growth funds solution.

In other news, figures from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) show a continued decrease in the deficit among UK private sector pension schemes.

The PPF’s monthly 7800 index, which calculates the ability of private schemes to provide PPF-level benefits, showed overall deficits were at £223.1bn, a fall of 7.5% over the month of June.

Total assets among the 6,057 schemes fell over the month by 2.8% to £1.24trn but were up 7.7% over the year.

Liabilities, however, decreased by 3.6% to £1.47trn.

The PPF said the liability drop resulted from a 23-basis-point rise in the yield of 15-year UK Gilts.

The fall in assets stemmed from a 6% drop in the FTSE All-Share.

Over the year to June, Gilt yields fell by 65 basis points, adding £235bn to liabilities, with the deficit position worsening by £146.3bn.

Lastly, Fidante Partners, a subsidiary of the Challenger Group, has acquired Dexion Capital.

Challenger purchased Dexion for its multi-boutique manager Fidante for an initial £19.6m.

The final settlement will depend on profitability over six years.

Dexion, a UK-based alternatives investment group, has been employee-owned since 2000.

It has now become part of the Fidante’s European operations.

It also owns Whitehelm Capital and WyeTree Asset Management in Europe among its global multi-boutique operations, and accounts for AUD45.1bn (€30.6bn) in assets.