Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund, Maidenhead, England, appointed 15 asset managers to a preapproved list to run growth equity strategies, said Nick Greenwood, pension fund manager for the £1.5 billion ($2.3 billion) fund.
Final decisions have not been made regarding the size of the growth equity portfolio, the number of managers to be appointed or the size of the individual allocations. “We wanted to have the flexibility to appoint managers as and when we wanted quickly, without having to go through a long tender process,” Mr. Greenwood said.
The managers are Allianz Global Investors, Amundi, Artisan Partners, Investec Asset Management, Janus Capital International, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Jupiter Asset Management, Kleinwort Benson Investors, Martin Currie Investment Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Natixis Global Asset Management, Neuberger Berman, Threadneedle Asset Management, Trilogy Global Advisors and William Blair & Co.
An RFP was issued in June.
According to the pension fund's latest annual report for the year ended March 31, global equities accounted for about 38% of total assets. BlackRock managed global small-cap equities, while Informed Portfolio Management ran an enhanced global equity indexing strategy. Fidelity International, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, William Blair, First State Investments, Wellington Management and Nomura Asset Management all managed emerging markets equity strategies, according to the report.
