UK - European retailer Kingfisher has appointed specialist fixed-income manager PIMCO to run a £96m (€134m) segregated bond mandate for its €1.372bn (£864m) pension scheme.

The portfolio will be managed against a customised gilt and corporate bond benchmark, although "the ‘full fixed income toolkit', including hedged overseas bonds, will be utilised," PIMCO said.

Colin Hately, head of pensions at Kingfisher said that the fund was looking for a manager with a "disciplined investment process and a strong longer-term track record," to help the fund meet its objectives.

Explaining what these objectives are, a spokesman for the fund said: "The target is a UK composite bond index with an alpha target of 150 basis points."

The fund declined to comment when asked if it planned any further tenders in the near future.

PIMCO's head of UK institutional business development commented: "The ability to use a global opportunity set over a full market cycle will be important, especially given the current environment of low absolute bond yields and relatively narrow credit spread."
In March the fund had replaced two incumbent index managers with State Street Global Advisors to run a £400m multi-asset passive mandate.
Kingfisher's main retail brands are B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix Direct.

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