NETHERLANDS – F&C will no longer be sole asset manager of the roughly €5.5bn Dutch industry-wide transport sector pension fund, Pensioenfonds Vervoer, when the scheme appoints a fiduciary manager later this month.

The appointment will see the restructuring of the scheme’s asset management division. Until now, F&C has managed the entire portfolio in one big balanced mandate.

According to Pensioenfonds Vervoer chief investment officer Patrick Groenendijk: “The reason is our philosophy that one company cannot be good at everything. So, it makes sense to look for more diversification amongst managers.”

Limited staff and time resources were cited as important factors behind the appointment of a fiduciary manager.

“What we are basically doing is we’re outsourcing our manager selection and monitoring activities,” said Groenendijk, who joined the fund from Barclays Global Investors in November last year.

He declined to comment on the precise role of F&C going forward. “They might be one of the parties that is considered for this fiduciary manager role. However, then again, they might not.”

F&C will continue as asset manager until the fiduciary manager is appointed later this month. The new manager will then table proposals for a new structure.

“In close collaboration we will then decide on the structure of the mandates, how many managers, how many mandates, active versus passive, and all those kinds of decisions,” Groenendijk told IPE.

He added that the scheme would appoint a fiduciary manager this month. The search started in November.

“There has been a lot of interest,” said Groenendijk. The initial list of roughly 20 names has been cut down to “a handful of candidates”.

Groenendijk declined to comment further. An F&C spokesman said it was aware the client was looking at the proposal and “we will wait to see the final outcome”.

Pensioenfonds Vervoer also manages a number of early retirement funds in the Dutch private transport sector.

In March, Northern Trust won a €7.5bn asset servicing mandate from Pensioenfonds Vervoer.

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