FRANCE – The 16 billion-euro French pension reserve fund says it is seeking a transition broker and an overlay manager.

The Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites, or FRR, said in a statement that it was launching the selection process for the two mandates.

“The first mandate is that of a ‘transition broker’ whose mission will be to execute (and, where applicable, to receive and order the execution of) buy and sell orders on financial instruments on behalf of the FRR upon the constitution of its portfolios, through the intermediary of the asset managers,” the FRR said.

The fund added this would “help to optimise the security and cost of the constitution of the FRR's investment portfolios”.

It is also seeking an overlay manager to advise the fund and manage its portfolio's exposure to exchange rate risk. The overlay manager would also be required to implement various tactical allocation strategies.

The closing date for applications is March 1 2004.

In December the fund announced that it had completed the first phase of its 16 billion-euro tender process - with 137 of the 410 applications going through to the second phase.

The FRR tendered 27 asset management mandates together with 12 stand-by mandates in July this year. The application period closed on September 12. There are twelve different asset classes in total. The final selection of fund managers is expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2004.

See: www.fondsdereserve.fr