IRELAND - The Irish Pensions Board and National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) have issued several mandates to assist with pension fund management, including a tender for a €600m emerging markets investment.

Details of the notice posted by the NTMA reveals the body responsible for managing the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) is looking to retain "several" emerging markets managers, to increase its exposure to long-only active equity products.

No further details are given at this stage about the body's requirements, except to say the awarded firm or firms must manage the allocated assets for at least six months.

Submissions must be presented to the NTMA by December 21.

Elsewhere the Pensions Board is seeking tenders to provide policy and economic consultancy services which help the organisation and government officials understand pensions matters, as and when required.

This tender says the Pensions Board wants relevant services to carry out detailed investigations into issues such as "the advantages and disadvantages of State involvement in income provision at retirement under the Second pillar", along with draft of several report and guidance notes, and reports into the pension provisions available in other countries.

Similarly, it is looking for accountancy services to help the board manage accounting issues arising from the implementation of pension legislation associated with its remit, the Pensions Board said in a second tender notice.

The Pensions Board would require them to investigate specific schemes on-site to ensure they comply with the Pensions Act, along with a whole host of other elements which the Pensions Board sees as its responsibility, including doing an examination of the impact of FRS17 on pensions provision.

In both cases, submissions must be presented to the Pensions Board by January 3, 2008.