Standard Life Investments has been awarded a €230million mandate by Sweden's only customer-owned and locally-based banking and insurance group, Länsförsäkringer. Standard Life Investments will manage the European Corporate Bond portfolio within its European Corporate Bond Fund SICAV, managed by Craig MacDonald.

Principal Global Investors has been awarded a $146million global emerging markets equity mandate from the Netherlands' Pensioenfonds PNO Media (PNO). The mandate, which will be managed by Mike Reynal, lead portfolio manager of emerging markets equity, adds to Principal Global Investors' $4bn of client assets from the first two quarters of 2009, $1.6bn of which were through equity mandates.

Lindt & Sprüngli has appointed Mercer as its defined contribution (DC) pensions and risk benefits adviser to its UK and Ireland business. Lindt & Sprüngli's chief financial officer, Martin Hug, said: "Lindt & Sprüngli currently offers a comprehensive range of benefits for its UK staff and Mercer's appointment will ensure the company continues to offer a high quality benefits package while gaining access to Mercer's market-leading pensions advice and risk broking capabilities."

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) is to insure three Denso Manufacturing Midlands Ltd pension schemes in a buyout transaction. The trustee of the Denso funds has purchased a bulk annuity contract from PIC, covering pensioners and deferred members with total liabilities valued in excess of £100million. Denso is a global supplier of advanced automotive technologies, systems and components.

Brent Pension Fund has appointed Alinda Capital Partners LLC to manage an infrastructure mandate worth around £25million (five per cent) of the council's assets under management. Following a bfinance search, the London Borough of Brent's pension fund chose Alinda to help the fund with diversification due to its low correlation with more traditional asset classes. Infrastructure is a new asset class venture for Brent's pension fund.

Punter Southall has been appointed by The Fairhurst Partnership to provide full services to the trustees of its defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes. The consulting actuaries and administrators' appointment marks its continued growth, will provide assistance and support to the trustees of the schemes consisting of over 800 members and £25million in assets. Fairhurst is one of the largest privately-owned partnerships of consulting engineers in the UK.

Neptune Investment Management has appointed Penrose Financial as its media advisor. The fund management company has £3.7bn of assets under management, and its funds are marketed through intermediaries registered on the industry's principal platforms.

Penrose Financial has been appointed as media adviser for investment manager Impax Asset Management, which focuses on the environmental sector. Founded in 1994, Impax manages around US$1.8bn across a range of pooled vehicles and segregated accounts on behalf of institutional and private investors.

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has been chosen to insure the remainder of the Thomson Regional Newspapers (TRN) Pension Fund, sponsored by Citigroup. Trustee directors at TRN purchased a bulk annuity contract from PIC, the insurance arm of Pension Corporation. The scheme has liabilities valued at around £35million. The Trustee Directors will retain responsibility for paying benefits to the Fund's members.

Barnett Waddingham has been appointed by Rexel UK to provide investment consultancy services to its £160million Rexel Pension Scheme. Rexel is a business-to-business distributor of electrical installation supplies, and operates in 34 countries with 34,000 employees and 2,600 branches.

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