Europe

UK - William M Mercer has been appointed pension and benefits consultant to BUPA Pension Scheme and adviser to the BUPA Group for its overall pension strategy.

FRANCE - The European Industrial Partnership (EIP), launched by The io Group and AXA Real Estate Investment Managers in July of this year, has commenced its acquisition campaign.

UK - The £24m pension fund for bathroom manufacturers Jacuzzi Group has dumped Schroder Investment Management (SIM) as part of an asset review.

UK - William M. Mercer has been appointed as investment consultant to the combined £380m Huntsman-Tioxide pension scheme.

UK - The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reminded the firms that it regulates that they should check their records for names of alleged subjects under investigation by the FBI in connection with the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks....

UK - Deloitte & Touche has been appointed as fund administrator to the £744m Rio Tinto pension fund.

UK - Old Mutual Asset Management (UK) (OMAM) - the regional investment arm of South African financial services group Old Mutual - is to introduce its first hedge fund offering in November.

UK - Aon Consulting has hired John Forsyth as a senior consultant and actuary, based in Leeds.

UK - Hedge funds will have to wait another 18 months to win the trust of institutional investors such as pension funds, according to Zurich Scudder Investments.

UK - The £120m University of Bristol Pension and Assurance Scheme (UBPAS) is setting up a multinational portfolio and dropping CAPS in favour of a scheme-specific benchmark.