MORPETH, England - The 250 million ($380 million) Northumberland County Council Superannuation Fund, Morpeth, might replace one of its two balanced managers or add a third to its lineup, said David Hutchinson, chief accountant.
The fund issued a tender notice seeking interest from managers by May 3.
Mercury Asset and Baring Asset each run about half of the fund in global balanced portfolios now.
Mr. Hutchinson said the fund might stick with its existing arrangement, or it might replace one manager or split its mandate with the new balanced manager. He declined to say which manager might be replaced or reduced. Any new arrangements should be in place in September.
Watson Wyatt Worldwide is assisting.
Emerging market returns
out on top for quarter
Emerging markets overall bested the performance of the world's developed markets during the first quarter, data from Morgan Stanley Capital International show.
In dollar terms, the 22-country MSCI Emerging Markets Free Index climbed 5.8% during the quarter, vs. a 3.7% gain by the MSCI World Index and a 2.5% rise by the MSCI Europe Australasia Far East Index.
But during March, the EAFE's performance outpaced the world and emerging markets indexes.
The strongest developed markets for the quarter were Malaysia, up 14.2%; Hong Kong, up 10.9%; and Sweden, 9.2%. Among emerging markets, Turkey was first for the quarter, up 34.4%, followed by Poland, 32.5%.
Managers see 15% growth
in emerging markets
Emerging markets should appreciate by an average of about 15% a year for the next five years, according to a group of top-performing emerging markets managers interviewed in Global Fund Analysis, a new research publication of TASS Management Ltd.
The managers foresee continued market volatility, with markets of newly developing countries with low gross national products per capita generating higher returns than the more mature Tiger economies of Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Most also foresee good value in Asian market and expect the next two years to be profitable. Latin American markets should also perform well as various economies recover from recessions, the managers believe.
Among the managers interviewed were Richard Carss of Genesis Fund Managers, Timothy Chan of Barclays Investment Management, Mark Mobius of Templeton Investment Management and David Lui of Schroders Investment Management.
Record Treasury, Platinum
team up for offering
WINDSOR, England - Record Treasury Management Ltd. has linked up with Platinum Treasury Systems PLC, a corporate risk management software provider, to develop a product for the pension fund market.
Record Treasury helped organize the financing for Platinum's January buy-out from Platinum Accounting, and retains options to buy up to 20% of the risk-management firm's equity.
The software firm is based in Sydney but its stock is listed in London and it also has offices in Chicago.
Platinum is developing software to measure risk for corporations and banks that also will be tailored to the pension fund market, with Record's assistance, according to Les Halpin, chief executive of the Windsor-based currency manager.
The product will be more suitable for pension funds that operate in a limited set of markets than J.P. Morgan's more complex RiskMetrics product, Mr. Halpin said. The firms also will cross-market each others' products, he added.
