PIIM bids to run part of pension fund

PI Investment Management, (PIIM) the Australian funds operation that poached a team of senior staff from Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) last year, wants to manage part of the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

Rory MacIntyre, managing director of the new Dublin-based fund manager, has already held exploratory talks with the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which is in charge of the pension fund.

PIIM has won one mandate in Australia and one in the Republic since formally setting up in Dublin in February. The Irish mandate came when Irish Life said it would use the firm as an external manager on its investment product platform.

PIIM is also actively pitching for pensions business in the Republic in its own right and intends to extend its offering into the US, the UK and continental Europe. A pooled vehicle will probably be launched into the Irish market over time.

The Dublin business concentrates on actively managing global equities, without any sector bias. The National Pensions Reserve Fund currently has two global equity mandates but neither of these is expected to be put to tender in the near future.

Mandates for the fund are not awarded over a fixed term and can thus be held indefinitely if the NTMA is happy with a manager's performance.

The most recent shake-up in the fund came last month when €400 million under active management by BIAM was transferred into a passive fund managed by BIAM in conjunction with State Street.

Mr MacIntyre acknowledged that it would be normal for an organisation such as the NTMA, which takes a long-term view, to look for evidence of performance over a couple of years before awarding a mandate.

PIIM hit an early stumbling block last month when Standard & Poor's took a cautious approach to the new team. PIIM's Australian parent, Perpetual, expects the Irish venture to break even after its first year of operation.