FRANCE – The 16 billion-euro French Pensions Reserve Fund has awarded its first 10 billion euros in mandates, covering four “lots” - large-cap euro equities, small and mid-cap euro equities, large-cap US equities and bonds.

The executive board of the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites has selected 16 tenders presented by asset managers. “The four lots’ total indicative amount is 10 billion euros out of 16 billion euros,” the fund said.

The decision sees French asset managers such as Crédit Lyonnais, AXA, BNP Paribas and CDC IXIS win money. Non-French managers include Vanguard Investments, Barclays Global Investors, HSBC Asset Management and Robeco Institutional Asset Management.

“The FRR has just achieved an important step in its manager selection process,” the fund said in a statement. “It appreciates the high standard of the tenders received from the asset management industry, in Europe or outside Europe.”

The fund added that the selection for the remaining eight lots, comprising 22 mandates for the remaining six billion euros “is in progress” and would be achieved by the end of the second quarter 2004.

The FRR said it reserves the right “to make inflows, if necessary, to the mandate entrusted to the stand by manager of such lot”.

Lot 1: Large-cap euro zone passive equities. Indicative size: one billion euros for three years:
- Barclays Global Investors
- Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management
- Vanguard Investments

Lot 2: Small and mid-cap euro zone active equities. Indicative size: 200 million euros for five years.
- AXA Investment Managers
- Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management
- Société Générale Asset Management
Stand-by mandate: HSBC Asset Management

Lot 4: Large-cap passive US equities. Indicative size: 640 million euros for three years.
- Vanguard Investments
Standby-mandate: Barclays Global Investors

Lot 10: Active government and non-government investment grade bonds in euros. Indicative size: 960 million euros for four years.
- AGF Asset Management
- AXA Investment Managers
- BNP Paribas Asset Management
- CDC IXIS Asset Management
- HSBC Asset Management
- Robeco Institutional Asset Management
Stand-by mandate: Crédit Agricole Asset Management


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