UK - The £1.1bn (€1.6bn) Lincolnshire County Council Pension Fund is seeking a currency overlay manager for a new £180m mandate.

A spokeswoman for the council in the east of England commented: "I think it is one of those flavours of the month: a lot of authorities over the past few month have been looking at currency."

She added: "We've been looking at it for about six months and as we have increased our overseas equities it is now felt that we've reached a point where we should be looking at the risks that currency has as well."

The fund is aided by consultancy firm Hymans Robertson in the shortlisting process, "though most of the decision is taken in-house", the spokeswoman told IPE.

The £1.7bn Surrey County Council is also looking for currency overlay managers for a £50m mandate.

In a separate contract notice, the fund today announced it was looking for a manager for a £150m global equity mandate.

Surrey says it envisages between five and 10 operators will participate in both tendering procedures. The council is being advised by Watson Wyatt.

Managers wanting to apply for the Lincolnshire mandate can send in requests to participate until June 25.

Tenders for Surrey's mandates will need to be submitted quicker as the deadline is at the end of this month.