NEST invites bids for sterling bond fund mandate

The National Employment Savings Trust Corporation (NEST Corp) today invited bidders for its actively-managed sterling bond fund mandate.

The pooled sterling corporate bond fund is not a new fund choice for members, but instead will be used as part of other NEST funds.

The sterling bond fund will be used as part of the consolidation phase of NEST's retirement date funds, as part of de-risking in the pre-retirement fund and as part of the holding fund for pots that have reached their retirement date.

Mark Fawcett, chief investment officer at NEST, said: "NEST Corp continues to evolve the way it delivers on its investment approach for NEST's members.

"Our research suggests that providing further diversification to our existing mandates at this stage will benefit members.

"This additional building block enhances our ability to manage our members' risk exposure in a sophisticated way right up until the point they want to take their money out of NEST."

The successful bid will be announced in Spring 2012.

In February 2011, NEST appointed Blackrock, UBS Global Asset Management and State Street Global Advisers to run the five mandates for its default fund.