Europe

UK - The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has recruited seven private equity secondary managers to a panel for potential future investment.

SWEDEN/ISRAEL - Four of the buffer funds in the Swedish pay-as-you-go pension system have cut their ties with an Israeli defense company on ethical grounds.

UK - The £910m (US$1.4bn) Lincolnshire County Council Pension Fund has hired JLT Benefit Solutions to pursue a manager for a £150m portfolio of alternatives.

UK - The average UK pension fund achieved a weighted average return of 14.4% for the year ending December 31, last year, latest BNY Mellon Asset Servicing figures revealed.

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds has called on the occupational pensions industry to establish super trusts which it said would add 30% to members' pension pots.

NORWAY - The Norwegian Ministry of Finance said today it planned to limit the amount of tracking error the Government Pension Fund Global can introduce to the scheme through active management as it moves towards decreasing risk in the fund.

CANADA/UK - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) has agreed to buy the operator of the UK National Lottery, Camelot, for an estimated £389m (US$577.7m).

UK - Cable & Wireless has agreed a demerger settlement which will see its pension provision split into two separate schemes.

IRELAND - Commodities can exceed equity returns over time while providing a good source of diversification in a scheme portfolio, Hermes head of commodities Colin O'Shea said.

UK - HM Treasury has trebled its estimate of the one-off costs that pension schemes, employers and individuals will incur as a result of the tax on higher earners' pension contributions it is introducing from 2011, Towers Watson said.