CleriMed seeks first win in local
authorities market
Clerical Medical Investment Group is
gearing up for an assault on the local authorities market.
The investment team is looking for its
first win in order to gain a foothold in a lucrative sector.
Earlier this year Martin Pluck, head of
investment client services, recruited David Somers from Hill Samuel to help
with the push into the sector and the firm is now marketing itself to
consultants. The local authority consultant market
is notoriously concentrated into just three big consultancy players and it is
Pluck's job to sell the investment process. Once we've broken through with one win,
further inroads should be easier," said Pluck. Consultant Punter Southall is also
trying to break into the local authority market and has criticised the sector's
concentration (PW 17.4.00).
The issue is also an area of concern
for Paul Myners, the Gartmore chief executive currently reviewing the fund
management industry. However, Pluck did not criticise this
concentration. If investment consultants are delivering the goods for their
pension schemes then they should not be worried about their power, he
believes. "The concentration in the market is not
a bad thing as long as they are delivering what their clients want," he
said. Pluck has been at the forefront of
selling Clerical Medical to the consultants. He believes they are more
interested in fund managers having food people and a sound investment process
which they wee will produce the right performance. The fund management market has become
less concentrated as the firms that grew quickly on the back of strong
performance have more recently had problems. Pluck admits that the move towards
core/satellite structures and smaller specialist briefs helps a fund manager
like Clerical Medical. The increase in fully discretionary client-specific
benchmarks is also something he welcomes. "This fits in with the way we manage
money which is away from benchmarks," he said.
Clerical Medical is clearly an active
manager. All active managers take risks, he said, and while they were
outperforming there was always a chance they would sometimes underperform.
By Karen Talbot, Pensions Week
10 July, 2000
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