This article appears courtesy of Institutional Investor.
Source: Global Money Management
Venilia Batista
The GBP400 million London Borough of Brent Superannuation Fund has tendered a GBP130 million global equity mandate currently run by Bank of Ireland Asset Management . The fund is also seeking a currency overlay manager to run up to 3% of its assets. "The current difficult period [BIAM] is going through is one of the reasons for the tender," said Martin Spriggs , the fund's investment manager in Wembley. He confirmed BIAM's underperformance but declined to give numbers.
BIAM has seen several departures since autumn last year, such as Dennis Curran , head of international fund management (GMM, 18/11/04), and has seen several reviews from various pension funds as its performance numbers dipped (GMM, 15/10/04). "It has been six years since we last tested the market," Spriggs added. The fund is expecting BIAM to participate in the tender. Carl McAndrew , head of business development at BIAM in London, did not return calls.
The fund has also decided to rebalance its equity portfolio to a 30/30% weighting between U.K. and international equity, from 25/35% to improve returns and reduce its equity risk, said Spriggs.