Europe

UK - Seven out of 10 employees would prefer to work for a firm which offers a choice of benefits rather than a fixed package, a new survey shows.

UK - British Aerospace has agreed to take on a greater share of its pension schemes' deficit and increase contributions over the next three years.

UK - The Pre-Retirement Association has set up a new website to help educate the public about money and financial management for retirement.

UK - Employers should look to reduce contributions to final salary plans as a cheaper alternative to winding up schemes, a leading lawyer claims.

FINLAND - Kuntien Elkevakuutus, the E12bn Finnish Local Government Pensions Institution (LGPI), is seeking managers for an all country Asia Pacific equities (ex-Japan) mandate worth between E100m-E200m.

UK - Arbuthnot Pension Trustees has revealed that a group of its clients has acquired a £6m shopping centre in Cambridgeshire.

UK - Council finance chiefs are "thinking the unthinkable" and pushing the government to raise pension contributions for existing local authority staff, consultant Hymans Robertson claims.

UK - Sainsbury's has said that its chief executive, Sir Peter Davis, will become the company chairman in the lead up to a possible bid for supermarket rival Safeway.

US/UK - A decision by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to adopt a performance disclosure policy for its private equity investments could prove "highly misleading", according to one expert.

UK - An internet-based pensions law firm is being launched by John Quarrell, the former head of pensions at Nabarro Nathanson.