Fondo Pensione Complementare per la Famiglia (Fondo Famiglia), the Italian housewives’ and part time workers’ pension fund, which could potentially include as many as 15m members, has drawn up a shortlist of 12 asset management firms to take care of the fund’s assets.
The successful companies will be revealed next month with at least two firms being invited to manage the fund. No details are yet available about its size, which was approved last year by Covip, the Italian pension fund regulatory body.
The 12 companies are Arca, Axa, Crédit Suisse, Dresdner Bank, ING, Morgan Grenfell, Monte Paschi Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, Pioneer, San Paolo IMI Asset Management, Schroders and State Street.
Elsewhere, Fondo Famiglia has selected Banca di Roma (BR) to take care of the fund’s administration.
BR is already operating as the fund’s depository bank and the latest move reflects the fund’s aim to remain simple but efficient. “We felt that it would be easier to have depository and administration services combined under one roof,” says Fondo Famiglia board member, Lorenzo Gasperinni.
o Italian fashion and textiles industry pension fund, Previmoda, is tendering for three managers to run two bond portfolios and one equity fund.
The newly capitalised closed-end fund is intended to act as a complementary savings tool for workers across the clothing and textiles industries who already contribute to the state run Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (INPS) pension scheme.
The final manager selection will take place towards the end of the year and the fund intends to be operational by the beginning of 2002, says a spokesperson for the fund in Milan.
The size of the fund or the portfolio splits between domestic and international assets have not yet been determined. The manager application process is open to both domestic and foreign managers who have at least E500m under management.