UK - The London Borough of Enfield is seeking an active manager to run a global equity mandate worth £55m (€62.4m), or 12% of its pension fund, as at end-June.

Thames Water Utilities has launched a tender for the provision of consultancy services in relation to its pension and reward benefit arrangements.

Enfield presently retains two global equity managers. Trilogy, appointed in 2007, runs an active mandate worth £48.2m as at end-March 2009. The rest of the global equity segment is run on a passive basis by BGI, who took over after previous managers Alliance Bernstein were sacked in March this year, when the portfolio was worth £37.3m.

It is this segment for which the scheme is now seeking a manager; it is also potentially looking for a second investment firm to run other assets currently managed by BGI.
However Hewitt, who is managing the tender process, says this does not automatically mean BGI will lose the mandate.

During the year to end-March 2009, the scheme, which has 13,700 members, saw the value of its assets drop £91m. As at end-March, the scheme's funding level had fallen to 64% from 90% in 2007. The tender closes on 8 October 2009.

Thames Water Utilities has launched a tender for the provision of consultancy services in relation to its pension and reward benefit arrangements.

The tender relates to its two DB schemes with 15,000 members and worth in total £1bn. Thames says the tender forms part of its regular review process. At present, the services are provided by Hewitt.

The contracts will be for an initial period of three years, followed by the option to extend annually up to a maximum of three further years. Consultancy services will be required on a regular and ad hoc basis.

The tender is split into four lots, consisting of actuarial services, investment consultancy, benefit design and corporate transactions. Tenders may be submitted for one or more lots.

The tender process is being run by Thames itself and the deadline for receipt closes on 11 September 2009.