United Kingdom

UK - The £850m West Sussex County Council Superannuation Fund has appointed Pantheon Investments to manage its private equity portfolio.

UK - French banking group Société Générale (SocGen) has dumped incumbent actuaries William M Mercer, in favour of Watson Wyatt as consultant to its UK pension schemes.

UK - William M. Mercer has joined forces with Attica Asset Management to introduce Mercer 360, a new investment solutions package designed for smaller defined benefit pension funds with around £50m in assets.

UK - Two leading pension providers have refused to participate in the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) latest comparative table for personal pensions and stakeholder providers.

UK - Pension schemes are not looking to follow Boots Pension Scheme which has sold all its equities and switched to a 100% bond portfolio. Indeed, some believe it is a good time to buy "cheap" equities.

UK - The £9.3bn British Airways Investment Fund has appointed property managers FPDSavills to manage three of its properties. The properties which FPDSavills will manage are Printworks in Manchester, Atlantic Wharf in Cardiff and Avonmeads in Bristol....

UK - Carol Galley admitted that the portfolio handled by Alistair Lennard was one of the most "divergent" from the benchmark that she had ever seen, in a fourth day of courtroom grilling.

UK/RUSSIA - Pension funds are being urged to consider investing in Russia, which is currently one of the best performing European emerging markets.

UK - Discretionary powers of pension trustees run counter to what modern society expects, ombudsman David Laverick believes.

UK - Invesco has won a £100m active equity mandate for the Shipbuilding Industries Pension Scheme.