Europe

UK - Barclays has offered up all of the held shares in BlueBay Asset Mangement while Lehman Brothers has acquired 4.99% of the shares offered in the managers' IPO.

UK - Despite recent strong investment performance, UK pension plans still face funding troubles as 80% of them plan to make significant alterations to their asset class mix over the next three years, Greenwich Associates has claimed.

EUROPE - BlackRock has launched the Merrill Lynch (ML) European Property Fund of Funds, which will invest in unlisted diversified property vehicles across Europe.

UK - George Osborne, the Conservative shadow chancellor has launched a fresh attack on Gordon Brown's pensions policy.

NORWAY - The head of the NOK1.5trn (€180bn) Norwegian Government Pension Fund (Global) has cautioned against excessive investment risk, after proposals were made to increase the fund's equity allocation to 60% of the portfolio.

UK - Goldman Sachs in the US has vigorously defended the use of pre-hedging in transition management, providing a strong indication that any attempt to ban the practice globally would be met with heavy opposition on its part.

UK/US - Aon has proposed cuts to both its UK and US defined benefit plans worth US$60m annually, with UK members facing the termination of future salary and service benefits.

UK - Mellon Transition Management Services (MTMS) group has completed a transition management mandate for the North Yorkshire Country Council Pension Fund's £680m global equity portfolio, which threw out its customised benchmark in the process.

EUROPE - Swisscanto has launched its (LU) SICAV 2 Bond Absolute Return (CHF and €) bond funds, which aim to achieve positive yields of 1.5% (CHF) and 2% (EUR) above their respective money market yields over a rolling time horizon of three years.

DENMARK - PensionDanmark posted a benchmark-beating 3.6% return during the third quarter 2006, which saw the fund grow DKK1.4bn year-to-date to a total of DKK58.9bn (€7.9bn).