Europe

SPAIN - Software provider Marlborough Stirling is expanding into continental Europe with the opening of offices in Milan and Madrid.

UK - The near-£800m Worcestershire County Council Pension Fund is mandating several briefs following an overhaul of its investment structure.

UK - Schroder Investment Management continues to top IPN's mandate losers' table with a new loss dragging the firm's net total to £1114m.

UK - Government annuity reform proposals have been rapped by the Equal Opportunities Commission for failing to address the lower rates women receive.

EUROPE - The SiRi Group (Sustainable Investment Research International) has announced that profiles of French stocks within the SiRi Global 500 and the MSCI World Index will be researched by existing SiRi members, Switzerland-based CentreInfo and Brussels-based...

UK - Aegon, Friends Provident, Norwich Union, Scottish Widows and Skandia Life are to invest more than £11m in financial services group Millfield.

DENMARK - Valby-based BankPension has awarded a private equity mandate to Nordea Private Equity.

UK - The government is set to give the green light to "money back" annuities from two of Britain's biggest insurance groups.

UK - UK pension fund for pharmaceuticals giant Roche - which has just replaced its consultants Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow with rivals Watson Wyatt - is likely to ditch Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in a move that could spark an overhaul of its entire...

UK - Custodians should play a key role in trustee training, global custodian Northern Trust believes.