UK – The £8.8bn (€12.8bn) Strathclyde Pension Fund has become the latest UK local authority pension fund to “go unconstrained” – seeking investment managers to run assets not benchmarked to an index.

The Glasgow-based fund is following in the footsteps of its Edinburgh neighbour the Lothian Pension Fund as well as the London Borough of Enfield, the City of Westminster and Kent County Council.

The Glasgow City Council today tendered a mandate for “specialist 'Unconstrained' long only global equity investment management”.

It said: “The total value of the mandate(s) will be between 5% to 20% of the value of the fund (approximately £440m to £1.77bn as at end March 2006).”

The mandate may be awarded as one lot, but is more likely to be split into two or more lots – up to a maximum of six.

David Crum, chief pensions officer (investments), was not available for further comment. The fund is being advised by consulting firm Hymans Robertson, which did not respond to requests for more information.

Interested providers will have to provide, among other things, a record of past performance for similar unconstrained mandates for the last three, five and 10 years.

The award will go to the “most economically advantageous tender” based on seven criteria.

The time limit for the receipt of tenders or requests to participate is August 21.

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