Coop Pensioenfonds has appointed F&C Investments, part of BMO Global Management, to manage its liability matching portfolio.

The mandate involves investment in F&C's LDI-pools including the management of collateral, as well as the monitoring of counterparties.

Chairwoman of the investment committee at Stichting Pensioenfonds Coop, Jacqueline Bergervoet, said the pitch process has been competitive.

"After a competitive pitch process, we decided F&C is the right partner for us," she said.

"The F&C LDI funds have a clear and transparent structure designed to accurately match the duration of our liabilities.

"F&C acts as a partner delivering proactive advice, enhancing our knowledge and providing the necessary reporting."

Ben Kramer, executive director in the Netherlands for F&C Investments, said "Having a strategic hedging policy is critical for a pension scheme to meet the future funding requirements of its members.

"Following a competitive pitch process, we are very pleased Coop Pensioenfonds has entrusted us with the management of their liability matching."

F&C is focused exclusively on managing money for its clients.

It manages assets for a combination of insurance clients, institutional investors, intermediaries and private individuals.

F&C invests across all major asset classes – equities, fixed income and property – and has specialist expertise in asset allocation, alternative investments, liability driven investments, multi-manager, private equity funds and Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Investing.

F&C is a part of BMO Global Asset Management, a global investment manager delivering service excellence from 24 offices in 14 countries to clients across five continents.

BMO Global Asset Management is a part of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO), a fully diversified financial services organisation with CAD 522 billion total assets and more than 47,000 employees as of October 31, 2014.

First published 26.03.2015

Lindsay.sharman@wilmingtonplc.com