London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Pension Fund is searching for an active global credit manager to run £50 million ($80 million), confirmed David Dickinson, group manager, pensions and treasury.
Funding comes from terminating Aberdeen Asset Management from a £165 million global bond mandate that was heavily weighted in U.K. bonds. The termination was prompted by staff reductions announced in July at Aberdeen in some global bond strategies, as well as the pension fund's desire for a more diverse bond portfolio, according to the £570 million pension fund's website.
The remaining assets from the termination will fund capital calls for a new infrastructure mandate, and possible funding for new absolute-return managers and passive bonds; however, allocation decisions have not been finalized, Mr. Dickinson said in an e-mail.
Proposals for the global credit mandate are due Jan. 3, with a selection expected in April. Investment consultant Hymans Robertson will assist with selection; however, bfinance is handling the search process. More information is available from bfinance's Jean-Noel Zegerman, senior analyst, or Mathias Neidert, director and deputy head of research, at [email protected].
Separately, the fund hired UBS Global Asset Management to run £100 million in passive equity, Hermes GPE to run £50 million in infrastructure, and Pyrford International and Newton to run £50 million and £25 million, respectively, in absolute-return multiasset strategies, Mr. Dickinson confirmed. JLT Investment Consulting assisted in those searches.
