Merseyside Council has found a new manager to invest £1.4bn in assets of its pension fund with.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation has announced that it has been appointed by Merseyside Council to manage £1.4bn in assets of its pension fund.

This figure brings the assets SSgA manages for the local authority sector in the UK to more than £7bn.

Merseyside Council has selected SSgA's Managed Pension Funds Limited (MPF) fund, a UK-domiciled pooled fund vehicle for pension fund investors, for this mandate.

The assets from this latest mandate will be allocated among passive UK, North America and Index-Linked Gilt funds within the firm's MPF vehicle.

SSgA says that MPF offers a suite of pooled funds across the major asset classes and provides investors with cost-effective access to a broad range of investment strategies.

Paddy Dowdall, investment manager at Merseyside Council said: "SSgA is a leading index manager and having thoroughly reviewed its service, we believe it offers the most attractive investment solution for managing this mandate in terms of quality and price. We selected SSgA for several reasons, including its high performance levels, broad range of services and strong risk controls and we are delighted to be working with them for this mandate."

Susan Raynes, head of SSgA's UK, Middle East and Africa (UKMEA) business, said: "We are committed to providing the Local Authority sector with an array of investment management solutions to guide them through the many challenges and opportunities the industry faces. We are extremely pleased Merseyside Council has selected SSgA's MPF fund for this mandate and look forward to building our relationship."

First published 01.11.2012

azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk