UK - The £430m (e694m) Northumberland County Council Pension Fund has appointed Legal & General to a £240m passive global equity brief, shedding its previous balanced arrangements with Schroders and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

The appointment comes as part of a review of the fund’s entire investment set-up, which has also seen Northern Trust pick up the custody for the fund’s assets – a move away from the fund’s former in-house custody arrangements with its asset managers.

Clare Gorman, senior accountant, says the appointment of Northern Trust, complimented the change in manager structure: “This is the first step in the appointment of six asset managers and we didn’t think it was appropriate to have six custodians.”

Gorman says the fund is still seeking managers for an active UK equities brief; an active non-UK equities mandate and an active fixed-income mandate.

Watson Wyatt is acting as consultant to the fund tenders.