United Kingdom

UK - The London Borough of Brent pension fund has appointed Mellon Capital to its new specialist currency mandate, in a step which has also seen the size of the brief increase from £5m to £28m.

UK - Henderson Global Investors could lose a global equities mandate worth £130m following a decision by Falkirk Council to tender the brief, worth approximately 20% of the £700m pension fund, partly due to performance issues.

UK - Marconi will make a £185m cash injection to its UK pension plan and set aside a further £490m, if the planned £1.2bn sale of its telecommunications equipment and international services businesses to Ericsson goes ahead.

UK - Balanced pooled funds achieved a positive median return in Q3 of 8% net of fees, representing the tenth consecutive quarter of positive returns.

UK - Somerset County Council has announced a tender for actuarial services and investment advice for the local government pension scheme.

UK - The £2bn Kent County Council pension fund today tendered to appoint investment managers for mandates valued up to £450m.

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has criticised a government proposal which could require institutional investors to disclose how they have voted with their shares.

UK - Aberdeen has rebranded its private equity division and restructured its investment operations in a bid to establish private equity as a key division within its core asset management business.

UK - UK - Government long term targets for boosting pension provision in the private market and reducing the burden on state provision are unlikely to be achieved, claims the Pensions Policy Institute.

UK - Watson Wyatt has hired four new investment consultants to boost its UK consulting team on the back of a spate of departures earlier this year.