Shropshire County Pension Fund, Shrewsbury, England, hired three global equity managers to run a combined £450 million ($705 million), confirmed Justin Bridges, treasury and pensions service manager.
The £1.25 billion pension fund hired Legal & General Investment Management to run £250 million in passive global equity. It also hired Investec Asset Management and Natixis Global Asset Management to run £100 million each in active global equity.
The moves are part of a restructuring of the equity portfolio, which constitutes 52% of total assets. Equity now will be split between U.K. equities, which account for about 10% of total assets, and global equities, which make up the remainder of the portfolio. The pension fund is moving away from regional allocations.
As part of the transition, the pension fund will terminate four managers — Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Baillie Gifford, Martin Currie Investment Management and F&C Asset Management. A £78 million passive European equity strategy managed by LGIM will be transferred to the new passive global portfolio. The terminations were not because of performance, Mr. Bridges said in a telephone interview.
RFIs were issued in January and February. Investment consultant Aon Hewitt assisted.
