Norlys, the Danish electricity, television and telecommunications firm formed from a big merger last year, is on the hunt for a pensions and insurance firm to take over the management of all the various pension schemes and employee insurance contracts it is inheriting.
The company, formed from the companies SE and Eniig, is inviting tenders for a comprehensive contract for a list of pension and insurance schemes of Norlys Holding and its underlying companies, according to a notice on the EU’s TED public contracts site.
Norlys said other firms it acquires or merges with during the contract period may also be included in the schemes it listed in the tender, on the same terms.
The company Eniig Fibernet, which Norlys said was expected to be set up 1 October 2020, is also part of the tender.
The pension and insurance schemes listed by Nordlys are currently managed by PFA Pension, Velliv and Danske Sundhedsforsikring, according to the tender notice.
Norlys said it currently has around 2,500 employees, and that the potential deposit value of the pension assets to be managed is estimated at DKK1bn (€134m) with average annual contributions of around DKK140m.
The deadline for receipt of tenders is noon local time on 14 August 2020.
Swiss pension fund issues notice for active equity
A private pension fund in Switzerland has issued an active long equity volatility investing notice via IPE Quest Discovery.
The size of the global active pooled portfolio is to be advised later in the selection process, it said.
The pension fund is looking to build a long list of managers in this asset class that may then be selected to reply to a full request for proposals, it added.
Interested managers should have a minimum track record of three years, the notice said.
The IPE news team is unable to answer any further questions about IPE Quest, Discovery, or Innovation tender notices to protect the interests of clients conducting the search. To obtain information directly from IPE Quest, please contact Jayna Vishram on +44 (0) 20 3465 9330 or email jayna.vishram@ipe-quest.com.
Danish research foundation re-appoints Nykredit
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond (DG), the Danish National Research Foundation, has re-appointed Nykredit Asset Management for a DKK2bn (€267m) contract for the management of nominal Danish bonds.
The foundation, which issued the initial tender notice on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), said the contract is for a five-year period.
DG’s fixed income portfolio invests in government and mortgage bonds and constitutes the largest part of its assets – 37% of the strategic allocation is managed by Nykredit.
According to its latest annual report, the Danish bond portfolio yielded a return of 1.8%, which was higher than the benchmark return of 1.7%. The predominance of mortgage bonds with lower coupon (0.5-2%) contributed positively to the excess return in relation to the benchmark.
Although the yield spread on mortgage bonds was widened last year, this was more than compensated in the form of higher interest rates on mortgage bonds compared to government bonds and other non-callable bonds, it said.
The strategic allocation to global index-linked bonds is worth 11% of its total portfolio and is managed by Danske Bank Asset Management. The portfolio’s return in 2019, the report showed, was 2.8% compared to a benchmark return at 2.6%.
The return from the European credit bond portfolio in 2019 was 6.3% compared to the benchmark return of 6.4%. The strategic allocation to this part of the portfolio is 10% and the benchmark is Barclays Capital Euro Major Corporate Index. It is also run by Danske Bank AM.
The US high yield bond portfolio accounts for 7% of the strategic allocation, and the portfolio is managed by Columbia Threadneedle. In 2019 it returned 12.7%, which is higher than the 10.7% its benchmark returned (ML US High Yield Bonds, Constrained hedged to DKK).
The excess return is due to good securities selection, especially in the energy sector where there were many bankruptcies in 2019, the report explained.
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