Europe

UK - Consultants have questioned Pearl Group's super secretive new buyout product, apparently aimed at leveraged private equity (PE) bids thwarted by pension fund deficits.

UK - Barings Asset Management has called on the UK government to establish several CalPERS style pension funds as a way of dealing with an expected £600bn civil service pensions black hole which will officially be recognised this year.

UK - The Government has been defeated in the House of Lords after peers backed proposals to ensure fair compensation is available to thousands of pensioners of failed company pension schemes.

UK - Fidelity International has launched its first institutional absolute return fund aiming to help defined benefit (DB) pension plans gain access to a range of traditional and alternative investments.

UK- Only 19 % of UK pension schemes have implemented an LDI strategy - despite an expressed need, according to new research from SEI.

UK - Aon Consulting has appointed two investment bankers to its team.

UK - Kent County Council pension scheme has chosen Invesco Perpetual to manage an unconstrained £200m UK equity mandate.

UK - The UK Social Investment Forum (UKSIF) has lambasted the UK government for failing to address socially responsible investing (SRI) in its Personal Accounts White Paper.

UK - State Street Corporation has been appointed to provide a range of investment services to the Somerfield Pension Scheme for £300m in assets.

FRANCE - The €31.3bn Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has awarded fund of funds mandates worth a total of €1.35bn to three private equity managers.