Europe

UK - Punter Southall landed a win at Oxford Instruments, as consultants and administrators to the firm's final salary pension scheme, at the expense of rivals Aon Consulting.

UK - Endemic problems surrounding pension scheme wind-ups may be solved when OPRA's new powers take effect next year, leading law firms believe.

UK - The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority received more than 120 reports of companies which failed to enforce stakeholder compliance in the first week following the deadline.

SCOTLAND - The £900m Dundee City Council Tayside Superannuation Fund is set to review its investment structure in February 2002.

UK - Pension lawyers are forecasting a raft of scheme claims against fund managers if Unilever's High Court action against Merrill Lynch Investment Managers is successful.

UK - Schroder Investment Management (SIM) looks set to be dropped by the £25m Wyman-Gordon Retirement Benefits Plan.

EUROPE - Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) will be hosting a series of investment conferences in Europe during October 2001.

UK - Unilever claimed in the High Court yesterday it has documentary evidence that Alistair Lennard, the MLIM fund manager responsible for managing part of its £5bn pension portfolio, admitted negligence in the way he handled the money.

UK - The £25m Wyman-Gordon Retirement Benefits Plan has dropped William M Mercer and appointed Vantage Global Advisors (VGA) as its consultants.

ITALY - Milan-based fund manager Akros Alternative Investments (AAI) - a joint venture between Italy's Bank Akros and Chicago-based investment advisor, HFR - has launched three hedge fund offerings aimed at the institutional and high net worth communities....