One of the UK's largest pension funds, the £17bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has replaced UK fund managers Phillips & Drew (P&D) with Capital International for a £1.4bn ($2.3bn) global balanced mandate, a move being seen as a significant victory for US-based fund managers in the traditionally insular UK market.

According to USS chief executive, David Chynoweth, P&D were not dropped for performance reasons: As part of our five year review we identified a need for market analysis and research on a global basis, which Capital were able to satisfy."

San Francisco-based Capital has been building up its European operations and now manages around £10bn across the continent.

USS still manages the majority of its funds in-house, with Schroders and Bailie Gifford holdingbalanced briefs for £1.4bn each.

William Mercer acted as consultants for the investment manager research.

p UK brewing giant Bass has hived off a £100m active UK equity mandate from Phillips & Drew's previous £250m brief, following a "cumulative period of five years underperformance," according to Bass director of pensions, Trevor Jones.

The £2bn fund has awarded the mandate to JP Morgan, with £80m to be managed for the main fund and £20m for the smaller executive pension plan.

Jones added: "We selected JP Morgan because we felt they offered the right sort of value-related discipline, and we will continue to monitor the structure and performance of funds, so future changes can't be ruled out."

William Mercer carried out consultancy for the tender process. Hugh Wheelan"