IRELAND – The €1.6bn pension scheme of the Irish postal service An Post has restructured its manager roster with the help of consulting firm Mercer.

Axa Rosenberg and AllianceBernstein were each awarded €264m Europe, Australia, and Far East briefs – with Axa also gaining €80m in global small-caps. Citigroup was handed €80m in emerging markets while €240m in active bonds went to PIMCO.

KBC Asset Management lost €530m in active global equities and bonds, while Irish Life AM lost €450m of passive international equities and bonds. Bank of Ireland AM lost €220m of global equities but gained a €552m passive brief.

“This is the culmination of an 18-month process,” said An Post Superannuation Scheme secretary Paul Dolan. The aim was to reduce risk and increase fund return, he told IPE.

Although Mercer facilitated the strategy change, Dolan stressed that the process was driven by the trustees.

The managers were already almost five years into their original mandates, he added. “We should have the new strategy up and running by mid-October," Dolan added.

Dolan said the new actuarial assessment of the scheme is due by the end of September. He added that the fund would announce the appointment of a transition manager soon.

The €120m property portfolio remains with the same managers. Custody remains with ABN Amro Mellon.

An Post disclosed a net pension liability of €250m in its 2004 annual report.

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