Two large European pension schemes have hired Russell Indexes for new strategies.

The Danish Teachers Pension Fund (Laerernes) and the Dutch Metalworkers Pension Fund (Pensioenfonds van de Metalektro, or PME) have each selected Russell Indexes to serve as the basis for investment strategies.

Laerernes have invested approximately €120m (£100m) in a mandate tracking the Russell Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index, while PME have invested an undisclosed amount in segregated mandates tracking the Russell Defensive U.S. and Developed Europe Indexes.

According to the latest data held by Pension Funds Online, industry wide scheme PME currently holds assets worth over €28bn, making it one of the top five largest schemes in the Netherlands, and Laerernes holds funds worth €4bn.

"We find the fundamental index strategy offered by Russell and Research Affiliates an attractive way to gain exposure to a fundamentally weighted investment strategy through an efficient, transparent and rules-based index approach," said Morten Roed Eriksen, portfolio manager for Laerernes. 

"European institutional investors are increasingly considering fundamental and low volatility investment strategies as they seek to achieve more efficient risk/return portfolios in a volatile and return-constrained global market environment," said Nick Spencer, director of institutional consulting for Russell Investments in Europe. "We believe that the intelligent use of passive investment approaches can help when thinking across asset classes in the context of the whole portfolio to complement active investment strategies."

First published 02.10.2012
azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk