AUSTRALIA - Superannuation funds First State Super and Health Super have confirmed plans to merge to create one A$28bn ($27.6bn) scheme, one of the largest in the country.

AUSTRALIA/CANADA - Intoll shareholders have voted in favour of the company's A$3.5bn ($3.1bn) acquisition by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

EU plans to introduce Solvency II funding requirements to UK schemes face an "overwhelming tide of objection" and should be abandoned, lawyers say.

UK - Institutional bond investors look increasingly likely to suffer amid the ongoing debt crisis and should seek safety in secured assets, M&G warns.

The Merseyside Pension Fund has tripled the size of its fund of hedge funds allocation with Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO) to $75m (£47.1m).

AUSTRALIA - Superannuation fund members with multiple employers who breach contribution caps are being unfairly penalised, an industry body warns.

UK/US - Merseyside Pension Fund has tripled the size of its fund of hedge funds allocation with Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO) to $75m.

PERU - Peru's pension funds will cut local stock holdings to buy Chilean and Colombian shares as exchanges in the three nations move toward integration, said Mariano Paz Soldan, chief executive officer of pension fund Profuturo AFP.

UK/EMEA - Northern Trust has appointed Wilson Leech as CEO for its Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

US - The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) saw its annual deficit increase by 4.5% to $23bn in the year to September 30, up from $22bn the previous year.