Intesa Sanpaolo pension fund awards €700m in tail-risk mandates

Fondo pensione a contribuzione definita del Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, the €9bn defined contribution (DC) pension fund for employees of Intesa Sanpaolo, has appointed five managers to oversee €700m in defensive multi-asset strategies aimed at mitigating tail risks across its three sub-funds.

Banor, Quaestio, Azimut, Eurizon Capital and Generali Investments have each been awarded mandates under the pension fund’s tactical allocation strategy, according to the fund’s 2024 financial statement.

Banor and Quaestio will manage €145m and €135m, respectively, across the ‘Bilanciato’ and ‘Difensivo’ sub-funds, both using defensive approaches. Meanwhile, Azimut, Eurizon and Generali will manage €145m, €135m and €130m, respectively, within the ‘Equilibrato’ and ‘Dinamico’ sub-funds.

The pension fund said it had implemented the tail-risk mandates as part of a broader strategy to weather “a deeply uncertain” macroeconomic environment in 2025, citing US trade policy and volatility in government bond yields as the main sources of risk.

Alongside its risk-mitigation strategy, the pension fund has stepped up its commitment to private markets, allocating an additional €170m to private equity secondaries and private debt. The focus remains on Europe and Italy, with some global exposure, particularly in infrastructure debt.

Following the latest round of allocations, the fund’s exposure to private markets has reached €523m, still below its strategic target of around 10% of total assets.

The pension fund has selected Capital Dynamics Global Secondaries VI, Partners Group Secondary VIII and Ardian ASF IX for private equity secondaries. In private debt, it has committed to Tikehau Direct Lending VI and, for infrastructure private debt, Edmond de Rothschild AM’s Bridge Europe 2023 Yield Plus fund.

A further round of commitments to Italian private equity, growth equity and infrastructure strategies is currently under review, the fund noted.

Earlier this year, the pension fund also completed a rotation of its public equity holdings in Japan and emerging markets, replacing the Comgest Japan and Candriam Emerging Markets funds with new UCITS vehicles.

Emerging markets’ performance moderated in 2024. Returns from US dollar-denominated emerging markets bonds declined to 5.4%, from 10.3% in 2023, while equity returns in the same category slipped to 8.1%, down from 10.3% the previous year, according to the financial statement.

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