United Kingdom

UK - Leicestershire County Council has decided to eliminate the bond portfolio of its £2.17bn (US$4.24bn) pension fund and change to a target return mandate instead.

INCLUDING - Neptune expands institutional sales team; CDP launches group SIPP; Mercer boosts Edinburgh team

UK - Mercer has restructured its investment consulting business, with a number of senior appointments aimed to support growth.

UK - Inalytics has announced the launch of a new service for pension funds to analyse fund managers operating in the 130/30 space.

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and industry have raised concern about the use of new mortality assumptions for defined benefit (DB) schemes, with the NAPF claiming the move is "one step too far".

UK - The modest losses announced by Henderson Group and New Star in the first months of 2008 were not attributed to institutional investors, the asset managers have claimed.

UK - Watson Wyatt has called for greater advice and education for defined contribution scheme (DC) members at the decumulation stage to make the most of the options available.

UK - In the first deal of its kind, the trustees of Friends Provident Pension Scheme (FPPS) have entered in to a bulk annuity 'buy in' with Norwich Union to de-risk its investments.

UK - The first FTSE100 company, Lonmin, has completed a pension fund buyout with Paternoster.

UK - Pension funds have recorded the first surplus of 2008 but funding levels are still below last year, according to data released by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).