ITALY – Cooperlavoro, the L20bn (e10m) closed-end pension fund for employees of co-operative companies, has appointed three investment managers to run the assets for its 300,000 members...

The managers, Mediolanum State Street, Sanpaolo IMI Institutional Asset Managers and Unipol Assicurazioni, are set to receive a third of the fund’s assets each.

Italian pension fund supervisor, COVIP, has yet to authorise the mandates, but is likely to do so by the end of May.

Mediolanum State Street, the joint enterprise between the Italian insurer and State Street has also been appointed to mandates from Previambiente, the pension fund for workers in the environmental sector, and Fondartigiani, the pension fund for artisans and craft workers. Detailed figures for the deals have yet to be announced, but the funds are believed to be appointing a number of other money managers also.

The first Italian closed-end pension fund to externalise the management of assets was Fonchim, the pension plan for chemical and pharmaceutical workers, which has grown to e500m since it was founded in 1999.