New fund management firm wins €400m mandate

Mercer Global Investments, the new fund management company being set up in Dublin by Mercer in Dublin, has won a €400 million mandate from Irish Life International.

The award follows the departure of two key executives from Irish Life International for the new company, which has not yet been authorised by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

A spokesman for Irish Life International said the firm had decided to "outsource" management of the funds after reviewing its options in the wake of the two resignations.

Mercer Global Investments has taken on Hooman Kaveh, chief investment officer of Irish Life International, as its new chief investment officer. The new firm has also hired Jan-Hein van den Akker, an Irish Life International portfolio manager.

Under the arrangement with Irish Life, Mercer Global Investments will, pending authorisation, take over the management of Irish Life International's multi-manager funds.

These structures see fund managers hiring other managers to manage portions of assets according to particular areas of expertise. The philosophy is that they offer investors easy access to specialist managers in all areas by putting funds into just one company.

Irish Life International, a small arm of Irish Life & Permanent, will in future outsource any additional multimanager investments to Mercer Global Investments or other firms operating in the same area. Irish Life International will, meanwhile, continue to perform administrative and client services functions for the funds.

The funds being outsourced on an initial basis belong to high net worth individuals who are not domiciled in the Republic.

Mercer Global Investments will operate on a pan-European basis but will have its headquarters in Dublin. The project is being led by Tom Murphy, who expects his workforce to come to about 10 in the start-up phase.

Mercer already offers advice to clients who need to choose between a large number of investment managers, typically in the pensions area. The global consultancy firm has adopted a similar model in Australia.