UK - Trustees of the £800m (€1bn) Manweb Group, which is part of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme (ESPS), have appointed Mercer to provide investment consulting services to its defined benefit (DB) scheme.

Previously known the Merseyside and North Wales Electricity board (Manweb),  the regional electricity supplier is now part of Scottish Power and under the ownership of Spanish firm Iberdrola, and had employed Hewitt Associates as its investment adviser.

However, this latest decision to hire Mercer follows the consulting firm's recent appointment in 2007 as the investment adviser to Manweb's sister pension fund, the Scottish Power Pension Scheme, which has assets valued in excess of £2bn.

Paul Mulhern, a spokesman for Scottish Power, said: "We were seeking a proactive partner for the investment decisions for both of our large defined benefit (DB) schemes, and Mercer was able to offer a comprehensive service that was very attractive to us. We feel confident the team will partner very successfully with our investment committees."

According to pensionfundsonline, the Manweb scheme has approximately 7,500 members, with investments primarily allocated to overseas equities, followed by UK equities, UK fixed interest investments and index-linked gilts.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Nyree Stewart on + 44 (0)20 7261 4618 or email nyree.stewart@ipe.com


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