UK – The London borough of Hackney is looking for an actuary and consultant, and a property fund manager for its 340 million-pound (486 million euro) pension fund.

The decision to re-tender for a property manager is part of the scheme’s strategy to switch to an indirect property portfolio in a pooled format in order to obtain a wider spread of risk, explained John Pulsford, acting head of treasury and pensions.

Presently the 50 million-pound mandate is comprised of direct property only and is managed by Credit Suisse. The fund will now be looking at indirect property vehicles, and will consider applications from pooled fund property managers and manager of property managers.

Following the decision of consultant Watson Wyatt leaving the UK local authority market, Hackney pension fund is also tendering for a new provider of actuaries and benefits consulting services. Applications for both positions must be received by 1 September.

Pulsford said the mandates were “the last piece in the jigsaw” as the scheme has been undergoing a complete revamp over the last 18 months.

Following an asset-liability study and strategy review last year, the east London borough decided to switch out of a balance manager approach towards a more specialist approach. The fund was being managed by Barclays Global Investors, which were responsible for 51% of the scheme’s assets, an in-house team, which invested 33% of the fund in a passive index trade.

BGI and the in-house team have now been replaced by: AXA Rosenberg and Allianz Dresdner, which will each manage 25% of the fund in active global equities; UBS Asset Management, which will run 20% of the fund in passive UK equities tracking the FTSE all shares index; and ISIS which will manage 17% of the scheme’s asset in active fixed interest investments.

Topics