Regions

THE NETHERLANDS - ING Real Estate - the property investment arm of ING Group - is to make a EUR261m bid for an 80% stake in Spanish real estate company, Filo.

GLOBAL - Henderson Global Investors, a division of AMP, reported institutional net cash flows of A$1.7bn ($861.8m), a 15% increase on Q3, 2000.

GLOBAL - RBC Global Services, Institutional & Investor Services - a subsidiary of Royal Trust - is to become a concentrator for the Global Straight-Through Processing (GSTP) utility.

SOUTH AFRICA - The R30bn ($3.1bn) Engineering Industries Pension Fund is to review its investment strategy in January next year and may allocate some of its assets to alternative investments.

THE NETHERLANDS - Heerlen-based pension giant ABP has hired a senior portfolio manager to oversee its fledgling hedge fund investments.

GLOBAL - Global index group FTSE has launched a new index, the FTSE techMARK mediscience, designed to reflect the market performance of growth companies listed on the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) new market, techMARK mediscience.

SOUTH AFRICA - The R19bn ($2bn) Eskom Pension and Provident Fund is to switch from a final salary to a defined contribution (DC) scheme by the end of next year.

GLOBAL - SEI Investments has appointed Marrianne Gruver as director of its institutional team.

EUROPE - Venture capitalists 3i Group is to axe jobs across Europe, following a near quarter drop in share value, static profits and a shrinking of its investment portfolio. The brunt of losses will hit the UK.

EUROPE - Nicola Meaden - founder and chairman of TASS Investment Research - has quit the firm to join the London office of multi-manager Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM).