Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund issued three consulting-related RFPs Monday for investment consulting; policy asset mix consulting and the provision of asset manager performance and evaluation database services.
The Japanese language RFPs on the 130.9 trillion yen (US$1.1 trillion), Tokyo-based pension fund's website said the GPIF would choose one provider for each of the three services, for a two-year period starting April 1.
Hideyuki Takahashi, an official with the GPIF's investment strategy department, said in an e-mail that the same consulting firm can submit proposals for more than one RFP.
A briefing for interested firms will be held at the GPIF's offices in Tokyo at 11 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Feb. 27.
Candidates interested in receiving an electronic copy of the RFPs can e-mail a request to [email protected].
Proposals are due by 5 p.m. Japan Standard Time on March 11.
Currently, Mercer Japan provides GPIF with money manager performance and evaluation database services; Russell Investments Japan Co., investment consulting services; and Nomura Securities Co., policy asset mix consulting services.
For the approaching contractual period, however, the GPIF's demands on its consultants could be higher, reflecting the pension fund's moves over the past year to ditch a policy asset allocation mix dominated by low-yielding Japanese government bonds in favor of one with larger allocations to risk assets, including global equities and alternatives.
