United Kingdom

UK - Software provider Euraplan is linking up with transaction cost specialist Inalytics to offer pension schemes an advanced analysis of fund managers' costs.

UK - Baring Asset Management (BAM) is changing the way it runs its European equity funds, assigning credit specialists to the European equities team and increasing the evaluation of credit factors when assessing stocks.

UK - Hermes Pensions Management is still considering its position regarding its takeover bid for Edinburgh Fund Managers.

UK - The Avon Pension Fund has has sold almost its entire property portfolio, despite the asset class being the top-performer over the last two years.

UK / EUROPE - Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) has consolidated its UK and European small cap investment teams into one portfolio.

UK - Embattled fund manager Merrill Lynch has found itself in court once again - this time over a case of alleged racial discrimination.

UK - Investec Asset Management has expanded its range of products through the launch of Investec Liquidity Funds.

UK - Legal & General (L&G) Investment Management enjoyed a 4% increase in new business in 2001, bringing in £13.2bn in mandates, a result L&G chief executive David Prosser hailed as "remarkable".

UK - A growing number of small and medium-sized pension schemes are looking to hive off pension liabilities to insurers.

UK - A code of practice to tackle a legal grey area over FRS17 is being planned by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW).