River and Mercantile (R&M) is set to complete the transition and onboarding of £1.16bn of mandates from the Smurfit Kappa UK Pension Fund.

The mandates comprise a fiduciary management mandate of around £630m and a liability-driven investment (LDI) allocation of approximately £530m.

R&M were awarded the mandates in January 2020.

Smurfit Kappa UK worked with PWC to run a full market re-tendering process, following the Investment Consultancy and Fiduciary Management Market Investigation Order 2019.

After reviewing the requests for proposal, the Smurfit Kappa UK Pension Fund board of trustees met with seven providers, including the existing managers.

The board subsequently decided to award the mandate to R&M, which was not one of the incumbents.

Commenting on the announcement, Smurfit Kappa UK Pension Fund pension manager, Tom Gallagher, said: “The dynamic strategic management of our new fiduciary management partner was an important factor in our selection and we are confident such an approach can best capture opportunities through this challenging period.

“The board was also impressed by R&M’s ability to provide segregated derivative solutions combined with bespoke cashflow matching to each section, which we believe is really innovative and unique in the market. We are confident this new partnership will offer long-term financial security for members”.

PWC director, Keira-Marie Ramnath, added: “We are delighted to be working with the trustees to independently review their investment arrangements.

"The fiduciary management selection process was highly competitive and against a backdrop of regulation being finalised, we had to work hard to ensure an apples with apples comparison.

"The result is that the trustees have adopted a solution which is innovative, bespoke to their needs, and delivers immediate cost savings, this is a great result for members.”

R&M Solutions co-head, Ajeet Manjrekar, concluded: “We appreciate the confidence and trust in us shown by the Smurfit Kappa UK Pension Fund trustees, advised by PWC.”

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