EUROPE - A European investment consultant is looking to place a €30m Asian bond mandate on behalf of its client, using IPE-Quest.

QN1248 should be actively managed as a segregated account as defined under German investment law, with a mutual fund also potentially of interest.

Measured by the Barclays Asian Pacific Aggregate Bond index, the total return approach should aim to outperform the benchmark by at least 5%.

Both derivatives and credit default swaps will be allowed within the portfolio, which will not be hedged for currency exposure, with the minimum rating of all bonds a B-.

The client has not placed restrictions on managers that can apply, with no minimum assets under management threshold set for either the investment class or the company as a whole.

Additionally, no minimum track record is requested, although performance to the end of April 2012 should be stated, gross of fees, when applying.

Interested parties have until 23 July to apply.

In other news, consultancy Mercer is to advise Merseyside Pension Fund, the £5.1bn (€5.8bn) local authority scheme for the greater Liverpool area, during the tendering of a passive investment mandate.

The mandate - worth as much as £1.5bn, approximately a third of the scheme's overall mandate - would cover both domestic and US bonds, as well as investment in UK index-linked bonds.

Merseyside Pension Fund head Peter Wallach said of the upcoming tender: "Passive management, for certain asset classes, remains a core element of MPF's investment strategy of manager style diversification and appropriate risk budgeting."

At the end of March 2011, Merseyside had a dozen external managers overseeing £3.2bn of its portfolio, with the remainder - covering domestic and European equities, as well as real estate, private equity and infrastructure - handled by an in-house team.

The IPE.com news team is unable to answer any further questions about IPE-Quest 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.