Europe

FRANCE - The Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has awarded US small cap equity mandates, worth a combined €500m ($790.5m) over five years, to BlackRock and Allianz Global Investors.

UK - The North Yorkshire County Council pension fund has placed a £250m ($499m) global equities mandate out to tender, due partly to disappointment with Barclays Global Investors (BGI).

UK - Hedge fund replication has moved into the spotlight following the Universities Superannuation Scheme's £200m allocation to the strategy.

UK - The Falkirk and the City of London pension funds have joined the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF).

INCLUDING: UK - PensionsFirst seminars; UK - Watson Wyatt research; UK - Investment Solutions appoints CIO

EUROPE - Deutsche Bank's exchange traded fund (ETF) subsidiary, db x-trackers, is launching five products offering institutional investors cost efficient tools for non-derivative based shorting.

UK - Providers of fiduciary management services, popular in the Netherlands, have claimed elements of the offering are already being used in the UK and some pension funds will have adopted the approach by the end of 2008.

EUROPE - European institutional investors are missing out on billions in damages by failing to participate in US securities class actions, according to a new report.

EUROPE - Campaigners claim pressure on European pension funds to divest from PetroChina is mounting, after members of the European Parliament sold their scheme's stocks in the company accused of bankrolling the Sudanese regime.

UK - The UK government missed an opportunity to improve structural issues in the inflation linked bond market, when its Budget revealed its borrowing would soar next year to £43bn (US$87bn).