Bass PLC, West Bromwich, England, pension plans replaced Phillips & Drew and INVESCO with Rothschild and Legal & General.
Rothschild will take over from Phillips & Drew a £140 million ($233.58 million) U.K. fixed-income portfolio for Bass’ £1.8 billion staff plan, based on a tailor-made benchmark of U.K. gilts and index-linked gilts, although the manager can also invest a small proportion of the assets in non-U.K. and corporate bonds.
Rothschild also will take over from Phillips & Drew a £40 million U.K. fixed-income portfolio for Bass’ £500 million executive plan, which will be managed in the same manner as the staff plan mandate.
Trustees were disappointed by Phillips & Drew’s cumulative underperformance in fixed income over three and five years, said Trevor Jones, director of pensions for Bass. A Phillips & Drew spokeswoman said, "We have managed this fund for 10 years now and while the performance record has been affected in the last couple of years, performance is recovering. We continue to manage the U.K. equities portfolio.’’
Legal & General will take over from INVESCO a £200 million portfolio of passive U.S., European and Far East equities. The manager was hired because it had a wider scope of funds with greater trading flexibility, said Mr. Jones.
