A Swiss pension fund is searching for an asset manager to run a segregated portfolio of small and mid-cap European (including UK) equities, according to a new search posted on IPE-Quest.

The unnamed pension fund is looking to award a €100m mandate.

The manager should use a core style with an active investment process, benchmarking the portfolio against the MSCI Europe Small Cap Net TR EUR index.

Firms applying should have at least €1bn in assets under management in this investment segment, and a minimum of €1.5bn under management in overall assets.

They should also have a track record of at least six years.

The search stipulates various requirements of managers applying, including their ability to customise the investment guidelines so they customise the benchmark, use no leverage and no derivatives. 

The maximum ex-post tracking error over a three-year rolling period should be less than 5.5%.

The proposing firm should also have a “demonstrable fiduciary investment management mindset”, and the organisation’s focus should be on institutional money management with experience in managing segregated accounts, and willingness to offer this to new clients.

The closing date for the search is 25 July.