Europe

UK - State Street Global Advisors' (SSgA) active UK and European equity strategies outperformed their respective indices by approximately 200 basis points in the second quarter of 2001.

UK - Lazard Asset Management (LAM) has appointed Andreas Huebner as its new chief executive.

FRANCE - Natexis Banques Populaires has widened its investment management offering with the launch of a new subsidiary for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS).

UK - Peter Baker, ex-pensions manager of Safeway, has joined pension fund software developer Euraplan as an executive director.

UK - The Government is being unsympathetic to employers and trustees in the way it is trying to impose a voluntary code of practice for pension schemes, according to law firm Pinsent Curtis Biddle.

UK - Hermes Focus Asset Management (HFAM) has expanded its management team and launched a management reorganisation in preparation for major expansion.

EUROPE - Hedge fund manager Deco Capital has launched the Boadicea Fund - the first fund of its kind with an all female management team.

FRANCE - Eric Turjeman has been hired as director of equity management at Société Générale Asset Management, based in Paris.

UK - The East Sussex County Council Pension Fund is seeking a global custodian to oversee around £1bn in pension fund assets.

UK - Top fund managers and pension funds look set to lose their stakes in Railtrack as a result of the High Court's decision to transfer management of the company to the private sector.