UK – European retailer Kingfisher has appointed State Street Global Advisors to run a 400 million pound (591 million euro) multi-asset passive mandate for its pension scheme.

State Street Global Advisors replaces two incumbent index managers - although Kingfisher declined to expand on the nature of the transfer of mandate.

SSGA’s index management team in London will manage the assets. Kanesh Lakhani, marketing director at SSGA, claims to have experienced a “surge in interest from European investors in passive management”.

The mandate accounts for over 50% of Kingfisher’s pension fund, which at last estimates was around 750 million pounds (1.1 billion euros).

State Street Global Advisors manages 763 billion dollars in assets under management worldwide.