NORWAY – The NOK547bn (e68bn) Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund has issued one of the world’s largest ever fixed-income RFPs for an expected 15 managers with the size of the mandates varying from $100m to $1bn.

The mandates that have been announced are for three main types of fixed
income management:
* Active fixed income management in selected geographical regions
* Indexing with active strategies for achieving an excess return (enhanced
indexing)
* Index management

The mandates will be for various regions and sectors as defined in the Lehman Global Aggregate Bond Index.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the Petroleum fund assets, says that clear limits to the risk that may be taken relative to defined benchmark indices will apply to all mandates.

The deadline for applications is 15 January 2002.