UK – Merrill Lynch Investment Managers has been appointed to run a 410 million pound (572 million euro) mandate for the pension fund of international engineering business IMI plc.

Following a review IMI decided to switch from a balanced to specialist mandate. Merrill Lynch Investment Managers was already been running a 375 million pound balanced mandate for the IMI pension scheme, but has seen its portfolio extended.

The appointment will be welcomed at MLIM, which has specialised in balanced mandates in the past. It has lost out over the past year as schemes switched to specialist mandates.

The 410 million pound mandate will be divided between a 150 million pound specialist equity mandate and a 260 million pound bond and cash mandate. The UK equity fund will be managed by a specialist team, headed up by Steve Thompson.

MLIM has around 442 billion dollars in assets under management.