The trustees of the £1.5bn Willis Pension Scheme have found a manager to handle a large portion of its hedge fund portfolio on a fiduciary basis, following a competitive tender.

It was decided that the portfolio, which will have an initial value of around £100m, will be invested in a broad range of hedge fund strategies by investment manager Towers Watson.

Chris Ford, EMEA head of investment at Towers Watson, said: "This is a significant development for our business and is part of a trend where more clients and prospects are choosing to delegate all or part of their investment decisions to Towers Watson. Our hedge fund capabilities have grown and changed significantly since we started researching hedge funds over a decade ago."

Towers Watson has delegated responsibility for over $56bn (£34bn) of assets worldwide, of which over $7bn (£4.3bn) are invested in hedge funds.

According to data held by Pension Funds Online, the Willis Pension Scheme has around 11.500 members (pensioners, active and deferred) and invested assets of over £1.3bn.

First published 08.10.2012

azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk