EUROPE – A Scandinavian pension fund is seeking a manager or managers for 50 million dollars in European equities.

The fund is looking to award either one mandate for European equities which makes the tactical allocation between value and growth within the mandate, or it will award two separate mandates, one growth and one value.

The benchmark is MSCI Europe and the portfolio must have a yearly excess return of at least 2%. Outperformance is to be within the constraints of the mandate and after deduction of costs and management fees.

“The portfolio must be fully invested, cash is only allowed temporarily and must not exceed 5% of the portfolio. Monthly tracking error measured ex ante on a yearly basis must not exceed 5%.”

Short selling of shares is not allowed and investment in shares that are not represented in benchmark is not allowed. And stock lending and currency hedging are not permitted.

Investment in options, futures, warrants, underwriting or other derivatives is not allowed without written consent is obtained from the customer.

There is an ethical angle as well, as investment in heavily polluting companies or those that do not respect basic human or labour rights is not permitted.

“The client will not provide asset managers with a list of companies that do not match the ethical requirements.” The manager is to provide surveys on these ethical issues.

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