United Kingdom

UK - Ashtenne Holdings has acquired seven industrial estates - totalling £40m - on behalf of the Ashtenne Industrial Fund taking purchases for 2002 to more than £100m.

UK - Group personal pension plan members can boost their retirement pot by almost a third at no extra cost by using a loophole in pensions legislation.

UK - Standard Life has made further cuts in the value paid on withdrawals from its with-profits fund.

US/UK - Online institutional bond trader, TradeWeb, has completed its fifth year of operation with record growth in trading volume.

UK - Administrators are cutting corners in a bid to meet the deadline for producing statutory money purchase illustrations, a leading consultant claims.

UK - Inter-Alliance Group has appointed Carey Shakespeare to its board as marketing director.

UK - Trade union opposition has forced RMC Rugby Cement to scrap plans to shift 500 employees to a less generous pension scheme.

UK - Pension scheme design will take a "quantum leap" forward if Inland Revenue proposals are implemented, Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow claims.

UK - Smaller companies underperformed the FTSE All-Share Index last year, a new report shows.

UK - Local authority pension funds should be barred from investing in companies which fail to meet ethical criteria, green campaigners claim.