UK - Gartmore Investment Management and Schroders Investment Management are the latest balanced portfolio managers to be dropped by a UK local authority in preference to specialist managers.

Worcestershire County Council’s 637 million pound pension (1 billion euro) fund has replaced Gartmore and Schroders with a selection of managers appointed to run passive equity, specialist active equity and bond mandates.

The fund has now appointed SG Asset Management to run its UK active equities portfolio, Capital International as manager of its Americas active equities portfolio, and Nomura Asset Management as manager of a Far East active equities mandate.

UBS Global Asset Management has been appointed as manager for an index-tracking portfolio, in addition to a European ex-UK active equity portfolio.

For a specialist bond portfolio, Worcestershire has appointed JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management as manager.

Worcestershire also appointed ABN Amro Mellon Global Securities Services as the scheme’s new custodian. Previously, Gartmore and Schroders handled custody of the fund’s assets.

The decision to change the asset structure of the fund followed a review earlier in the year.

Worcestershire’s move away from a balanced to a specialist strategy follows recent similar decisions by fellow local authorities Powys and Essex.

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