State fund seeks managers

Between 300 and 400 investment managers have registered to receive information on the National Pension Reserve Fund.

It is understood that many investment managers have submitted multiple applications for the various mandates available, indicating that the number of applications received could exceed the 1,000 predicted.

The cut-off period for the receipt of applications to manage the various segments of the fund is 10 a.m. on Monday but the exact number of applications will not be known until the responses are downloaded electronically and matched with posted hard-copy confirmations after this date.

The geographical spread of the applications is also not yet known but the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which is responsible for the fund's management, said an analysis of hits on its pension fund page showed the vast majority coming from the US. In the past, Irish investment firms have expressed a fear that the National Pension Reserve Fund would be managed by international institutions.

The applications will be reduced to 14 investment managers, each overseeing a small segment of the overall fund that will top &€8364;8 billion (£6.3 million) by the end of the year.

The process for choosing a manager will be a lengthy one. Following Monday's deadline, the initial expressions of interest will be reduced to a significantly smaller number.

The NTMA will shortlist companies on the basis of pre-set criteria, including the ability to manage a mandate of the size of the funds applied for. The pre-set criteria also seek information on the ownership of the organisation, its capital structure, assets under management, the number of clients it has, the geographical location of clients and five years of monthly performance data for the product it is putting forward plus a risk profile of those products.

The NTMA will then calculate its own risk statistics on the information submitted to ensure uniformity across the investment houses.

Between five and 20 managers will be shortlisted for each sub-fund to be managed. The qualifying investment houses will be asked in detail about their investment style and philosophy. A shortlist of three candidates will then be drawn up for each sub-fund by the NTMA and its US-based consultants, Frank Russell Consultants.

A final recommendation will then be made to the Pension Fund commissioners who are in charge of the fund. This will comprise just one manager per fund mandate.

The NTMA is also seeking an interim manager who will look after the funds and ensure no over-exposure to any one sector occurs.

Some investment managers have questioned the euro dominance of the fund, which is to be 80 per cent invested in equities. Half of this is in euro-zone assets as recommended by Mercer Consultants. The fund will not invest in property or derivative or other investments. However, once the fund has bedded down such investments are likely.