UK – Manager of managers firm SEI Investments has been awarded the mandate to run the £18m (e29m) assets of the pension fund of Meconic – a specialist manufacturer of pharmaceutical ingredients and chemicals.

The brief from the Directors of Meconic Trustees Limited will include asset allocation work, benchmarking, portfolio construction and manager hiring and monitoring.
SEI says it will monitor the selected managers on a daily basis to ensure they perform in line with the objectives set by the trustees, with the emphasis on consistent performance and risk management.

Peter Welch, chairman of Meconic Trustees Limited, comments: “ Having undertaken an extensive selection process of manager of managers providers we were impressed by SEI’s demonstrable experience in pension fund management and its track record globally in this specialist area. SEI will work closely with us in delivering a customised approach to the management of our pension fund assets.”

The SEI win comes on the back of the announcement of a record year for business gains in 2000, with the manager capturing $5.8bn (e6.5bn) in new pensions money globally – a 43% increase on the 1999 figures.
Around $4bn of the new cash came in the US, with the remaining $1.8bn picked up in Canada, South Africa, Mexico and Korea.