BRENTFORD, England — GlaxoSmith-Kline PLC has pooled the money management of its six U.K. pension plans into a common investment fund with £5.2 billion ($9.2 billion) in defined benefit assets.
GSK trustees this year also intend to begin investing in property for the first time and will put up to 10% of total assets with real estate managers "over the next couple of years," said Roger Emerson, senior vice president, tax and treasury.
The property portfolio will be funded by cutting equities, he said. The plan now invests 68% of assets in equities, 31% in bonds and the remainder in "other assets" including cash, according to GSK's annual report for 2005.
The combined U.K. investment fund was launched in January, after almost a year of reviewing the money managers handling the assets of the six pension plans GSK was operating following previous corporate acquisitions, he said.
While the assets of the plans are pooled, the funds themselves remain separate with their own trustee boards and administration.
Trustees will be taking a more active approach to equity asset allocation, which will be reviewed on a quarterly basis. But strategic changes to the asset mix will be less frequent and are likely to be on a yearly basis, added Mr. Emerson.
Four of the incumbents — UBS Global Asset Management, Legal & General Investment Management Ltd., Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Ltd., and Marathon Asset Management, all of London — were retained.
The bulk of the assets, £3.1 billion, remains passively managed by Legal & General.