The Wiltshire Pension Fund has appointed a trio of managers each to its dynamic currency hedging and multi-asset absolute return framework agreements. Pareto, State Street Global Advisors and Berenberg Bank make up the currency hedging group, while Pyrford International, Newton Investment Management and Baring Asset Management form the absolute return bench. Fund Investment Manager David Anthony told GMM that discussions are underway as to which manager will be selected for each mandate, with the others remaining on call if trustees decide to change or increase the allocations.
"We had our committee meeting yesterday in regards to that appointment. We can’t disclose the outcome until we’ve been through the correct process," said Anthony.
For the direct currency hedging mandate, he’s expecting to have a new supplier in place towards the end of next month, and for the absolute return mandate "it might be a bit longer than that," he told GMM.
Anthony also confirmed that the currency hedging mandate will be based on the fund’s overseas equity exposure of approximately GBP500 million, but the absolute return mandate size could be subject to change.
The fund has just changed investment advisors to Mercer so at the next committee meeting in May the new consultant will be taking an overview of the current strategy, he noted to GMM. While it will likely still be around GBP100 million, it may be tweaked slightly, depending on what Mercer’s views are following the meeting, he added.