DENMARK - Denmark’s LD Pension has revealed that 100 companies have applied for the 12 asset management mandates it tendered through EU public procurement earlier this year.

The €6bn scheme is outsourcing virtually all of its investment assets, and LD Pension has said 40 companies have pre-qualified to tender for the following mandates:

Two Danish investment-grade, gilt-edged bond mandates of around €1.15bn each Two global equity mandates at €575m each Two Danish equity mandates at €385m each A €500m credit mandate €200m in emerging market equities €110m in Danish short-term bonds €70m in global inflation-linked bonds €70m in environment and climate-related equities
€50m in Danish money markets

Excluded from the tender were four pools already managed externally by BankInvest, Danske Invest, Jyske Invest and Nordea Invest, as well as a pool called LD Contra, consisting of very short and very long-dated bonds, gold and gold mining equities and other defensive equities, designed to perform through periods of extreme inflation or deflation.

A private equity portfolio was also excluded, most of which is managed by LD Invest, of which LD Pension is majority shareholder.

Previously, all the mandates being tendered were managed by LD Invest.

As IPE reported in February, LD Pension accounts for more than 70% of LD Invest’s assets under management, which generated just under 40% of its revenues last year.

The tendered mandates represent more than half of the firm’s AUM and 16% of its 2009 revenues.

LD Invest did participate in the initial application, and director Henrik Parkhøi confirmed for IPE that it has pre-qualified for the tender process.

Swiss consultant PPCmetrics has assisted LD Pension with evaluation and selection - the company will also help with the upcoming process of evaluation of tenders.

According to an LD Pension statement on 5 July, both Danish and international companies have pre-qualified, and final decisions on contracts - including ‘standby’ contracts for each mandate - will be made in late October this year.