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Home ground may be shifting under BIAM: Bank of Ireland's asset management operation can't buy friends just at the moment - but it can always rely on shelter in Ireland.

The unit, which has been the jewel in the bank's crown in recent years, has been showing the way to domestic fund managers in aggressively and successfully pursuing foreign mandates - particularly in the US where at the start of last year it was the fifth largest manager of international equities.

That success was enough to propel BIAM boss Mr Brian Goggin into the group chief executive's chair last year following the untimely departure of Mr Michael Soden.

Since then, little seems to have gone right. When he unveiled impressive interim results for the bank late last year, Mr Goggin acknowledged that the asset management business had been the one major blot on the record - shedding around €5.7 billion in funds under management in the six months to the end of October.

The figure is understood to have risen to around €8 billion since then as underperformance and the head-hunting of four key staff by Australian rival Perpetual eroded confidence.

Still BIAM can always count on support in its home market where it is reported to have more than a quarter of the fund management business.

This week, it emerged that the National Pension Reserve Fund has put the manager on review - a process that could lead to BIAM losing control of €400 million in assets it husbands for the NPRF.

It is the first time BIAM has come under attack on its home turf, but the fund's stakeholders - the Irish citizens whose State pensions will be underpinned by the fund from 2025 on - would be a long time waiting to learn about it from the NPRF.

A spokesman would only say that it was its policy neither to comment on a fund manager's performance nor to confirm or deny whether a manager was under review.

At a time when international fund trustees are increasing transparency and fund managers under review can no longer hide, it must be some consolation to BIAM to know that it has some friends it can rely on - at least on the home front.

Dublin Port tenants get leverage in High Court
South Wharf is still waiting for a High Court judgment in a dispute with Dublin Port over the planned change of use for its the Irish Glass warehouse premises in Ringsend on the capital's southside.

South Wharf, once part of Ardagh plc, leases the building from the port operator, and the pair ended up in court early last year. Judgment was reserved, and both sides are awaiting the outcome, which is expected (but don't hold your breath) early this year.

But the company might take some comfort from a not dissimilar case involving Classic Oil, another Dublin Port tenant. Classic has three 95/99-year leases from Dublin Port, and wanted to transfer part of its interest to Lagan Bitumen Ltd.

Dublin Port refused, and the matter ended up on the road to the High Court. However, the parties settled at the last minute, late last year, and Dublin Port gave its consent to the transfer.

Kerry feeds British
The British love affair with sausages continues. The latest figures show that sales of sausages in the UK increased by 4.6 per cent last year to over £500 million (€721.9 million) for the first time. This is good news for Kerry Group, who as Goodbody Stockbrokers Mr Liam Igoe points out, are big players in the sausage market. The brokers reckon that Kerry has a 34 per cent share of the market, with sales of around €200 million of its Walls, Mattessons and Denny brands.