MANCHESTER, England -- Co-operative Bank Pension Scheme adopted a multimanager approach and dropped Colonial First State Investments as its sole, balanced money manager, said Alan Murphy, Co-operative Wholesale Society's head of pensions.
The L280 million ($448 million) scheme hired Barclays Global Investors to manage L75 million in indexed portfolios. BGI will invest L41.2 million in U.K. equities with a benchmark of the FTSE Actuaries All Share index, and L26.2 million in international equities benchmarked to the FT/S&P Actuaries World index series, excluding the U.K. and weighted according to the WM 2000 measure of average asset mix across U.K. pension funds. The balance will be split equally between index-linked gilts and long dated gilts. Morgan Grenfell Asset Management and Henderson Investors were hired to manage active balanced mandates of L102.5 million each. Watson Wyatt assisted.
Ten Cate quits Wilshire to start own firm
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Lou ten Cate, a leading Dutch investment consultant, left Wilshire Associates Europe B.V. in Amsterdam to set up his own consulting firm. The new firm, as yet unnamed, will help Dutch pension funds in everything from asset allocation to picking money managers, custodians and external administrators. Mr. ten Cate also is talking to non-Dutch consultants about setting up joint ventures to serve multinational clients.
Dutch fund in deal to buy apartment complex
RIJSWIJK, Netherlands -- Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds voor de Metaal en Technische Bedrijfstakken and AMLI Residential Properties Trust have bought a 328-unit new luxury apartment community at Woodward Park, Alpharetta, Ga. The $14 billion BPMT and AMLI, which each contributed 50% of the equity, formed a joint venture earlier this month to acquire $165 million in multifamily communities in AMLI's seven markets. While the price of the latest deal was not disclosed, AMLI said it will be financed with a seven-year loan at a rate of 7.27% that can be amortized over 30 years.
NAPF's Robinson to retire in April
Ann Robinson, director general of the U.K.'s National Association of Pension Funds, is retiring in April after five years at the helm of the organization. NAPF executives hope to fill the position by next April.
