UK - The £899m (€1.34bn) Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Pension Fund is looking for a ‘panel' of transition managers, IPE has learnt.

Richard Bettley, investment manager at the local authority pension fund, told IPE today the fund would prefer a panel of two or three managers, each with their own expertise.

"I think the quality of specific transition management services has increased and the costs have come down and it is something we feel we can benefit from," said Bettley.

The fund has never used transition managers before, but previously asked the outgoing and incoming managers to transition assets themselves.

Bettley said the fund is looking for a panel with a variety of specialisms.

"If we get a good diversity of tenders it would make sense to appoint a panel and then use the most appropriate set of skills for each transition," he said.

"Quite a few pension funds have done this now, they might appoint a custodian bank, an investment bank and a fund manager, to sit on a panel, and they obviously coming at it from the different backgrounds," he added.

The Welsh fund is not being aided by any investment consultant in the tender process.

Bettley also said the fund has split its £32.5m Japan and £32.5m Asia Pacific ex-Japan portfolios which were managed by Schroders.

Cardiff appointed Nikko Asset Management, which provides mutual funds and institutional asset management for Japanese and global investors, for the Japanese equities portoflio, while Schroders was reappointed to manage the Asia Pacific ex-Japan mandate.

Schroders came under review in October last year, as the fund felt after four years it was a good time to review the portfolios.

Topics