FRANCE - FRR, the €27.7bn French national pension fund, is dividing two equities mandates between a total of seven investment managers, albeit the sum invested is now smaller than originally advertised thanks to the impact of recent market falls.

A statement from Fonds pour les Reserve de Retraite said it has now selected to Robeco and Wellington Management to look after a four-year global active value style US equity mandate worth €500m, although the original sum to be invested was €800m. (See earlier IPE story: FRR to award €3.1bn worth of equity mandates)

At the same time, Allianz Global Investors France - through RCM Frankfurt - Kempen Capital Partners, Montarano Fund Managers, Scottish Widows Investment Partners and Threadneedle Asset Managers have been signed to equally manage a portion of a €600m small caps active European equities mandate, although the earlier amount had been €1.5bn. (See earlier IPE story: French FRR to renew European equities mandate)

A source at FRR said the size of the mandates were lower than originally touted as these are a direct transfer of equity mandates rather than created from cash, and market movements have lowered the value of the pension fund's equity portfolio holdings.

FRR saw its assets fall by almost 25% last year, from €33bn in 2007 to €27.7bn by the end of December 2008.

The requests for proposals were first issued on 16 April and 4 July 2008 respectively.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Julie Henderson on + 44 (0)20 7261 4602 or email julie.henderson@ipe.com

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