UK - The London Borough of Newham Pension Fund has awarded its first infrastructure mandate to Babcock & Brown, by allocating an initial £30m (US$61.4m) to the asset class, following a detailed study carried out by Hewitt.

INCLUDING: UK - AXA multi-manager separation; US - PBGC takes on more; US - Another DB closure

HENDERSON Global Investors has confirmed plans to launch into the Asia Pacific property market at the end of this year.

US - The California State Teachers' Retirement Fund (CalSTRS) has reportedly issued a stark warning to trustees: be prepared for the possibility of challenging times in 2007- 08.

NETHERLANDS - Cordares chairman, Joep Schouten, has reportedly argued the internal supervision required under new Dutch pension fund governance rules could be perceived as misleading.

THE CROSS-PARTY amendment to the Pensions Bill which would create a "lifeboat fund" to boost payments from the Financial Assistance Scheme has been vigorously opposed by the government ahead of today's Commons vote.

INCLUDING: IRELAND - BIAM appointment; AUSTRALIA - New boutique manager; NETHERLANDS - Fortis supported by institutions; UK - Ministers oppose pensions proposal

UK - The £3bn (€4.5bn) Northern Ireland Local Government Officers' Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) has launched a search for two unconstrained or high alpha managers.

THE LONDON Metropolitan Archives has recruited Katy Holman as project archivist for The Pensions Archive Trust.

FRANCE - The €31.3bn Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has launched a search for two managers covering active US small cap equity portfolios, which are each worth €250m (US$344.4m).