The approximately GBP60 million Lookers plc Pension Scheme has diversified a small part of its assets away from passive equities and into global unconstrained equity. Investec Asset Management has been handed the brief for GBP6 million, said John Hoyle, secretary to the Lookers scheme. Lookers moved the money away from Scottish Widows Investment Management, which remains, along with Barclays Global Investors, as manager for the bulk of the scheme’s assets. “We did it because our investments were doing what all passive investments were doing--not much!” quipped Hoyle. “We wanted to explore whether we could get returns above the benchmark,” he said, adding that they were just trying the strategy out, “that’s why we only gave [Investec] a little bit.”
Mark Samuelson, head of global business development at Investec, acknowledged the win and commented that Lookers will be using its global strategic equity product. Victoria Lomax, press official at SWIP, declined to comment. KPMG advised on the appointment.