This week's mandate round-up includes Barclays, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and Dutch scheme Getronics.

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which provides the retirement benefits for Texas public education employees reportedly went from hedge fund investor to hedge fund owner last month as it invested $250m in money manager Bridgewater. The company manages approximately $120bn in global investments for institutional clients.

According to data held by Pension Funds Online  the Texas' scheme invested around $95bn in December 2010, of which $21bn were invested in alternatives.

The NY Times reports that in the last 20 years, Bridgewater has made an average of 14.7% a year.

The Dutch pension scheme for communciation technology firm Getronics (Stichting Voorzieningsfonds Getronics) signed a deal with fiduciary investment manager TKP Investments who will now manage all their assets and carry out the fund's administration. The scheme currently invests around £800m (€960m) and has nearly 25,000 members, according to Pension Funds Online.

The Barclays Bank UK retirement fund is said to be planning to sell about £350m in private-equity assets. Bloomberg reports that three people with knowledge of the matter have confirmed the plans.

According to the same sources, the fund hired advisory firm Cogent Partners to manage the sale of the portfolio.

Data held by Pension Funds Online shows that Barclays currently has over 25,000 members and holds assets worth £21bn. In a statement to the news wire Barclays said: "As part of our normal asset-management program, we constantly review the balance of our portfolio and this includes our private-equity holdings."

"Recent changes in the market have seen the development in a secondary market for private-equity holdings. Whilst we are reviewing some of our holdings, this may or may not result in changes to our portfolio."

First published 06.03.2012

azeevakink@wilmington.co.uk