GLOBAL - A UK insurance company, as well as a multinational company, are in the process of applying to the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority to launch a tax-transparent Common Contractual Fund, Ireland’s Investment and Development Agency says.

Sean Langdon, business development manager for financial services at the IDA, declined to name the companies. The CCF is a vehicle that would enable companies to pool pension assets.

Langdon also said that the CCF launched by Deutsche Asset Management in May, Deutsche GlobalSpectrum Common Contractual Fund, was “up and running”.

The fund is aimed at small and medium sized UK pension fund investors who want a portfolio of US equities.

Willie Slattery, managing director of State Street International Ireland, told IPE in May that he expected the fund to move to 500 million pounds “over the subsequent six months”.

Commenting on the introduction of non-UCIT CCFs, which would offer the possibility to invest in alternative asset classes like hedge funds, Langdon said he believed parliament could consider the matter as soon as September.