UK – State Street Global Advisors says it has won a mandate from the Clothworkers’ Co., a London ‘livery company’, to manage a 20 million dollar enhanced indexation portfolio.

Andrew Blessley, the clerk to the Clothworkers’ Co., said: “Clothworkers’ is a long term investor and we believe that an enhanced index approach best suits our investment strategy, as well as our philosophy and culture.”

Blessley added: “State Street's long track record and experience in enhanced indexing is impressive and made them the clear choice for this mandate.”

The Clothworkers’ Co. was formed in 1528 as a trade body for the textile industry and now focuses on charitable work.

SSGA, the investment management arm of State Street Corp., manages 59.8 billion euros in European pension fund assets and is the ninth largest manager in Europe.

SSGA’s marketing director Kanesh Lakhani said: “Enhanced indexing offers the best of passive and active investment strategies and there is now a growing recognition of the merits of this investment style.”

SSGA said in November that it now has 12 billion dollars under management in enhanced index funds, up from two billion dollars a year ago. Enhanced indexing aims to provide incremental investment returns by making lots of small bets at the level of an individual stock, instead of a small number of large bets.

Last week SSGA launched four enhanced equity index pooled strategies for UK clients covering the UK, Europe, North America and Pacific, aiming to outperform the relevant benchmark by 75-100 basis points.