Asset Allocation

Nestlé Appoints Schroders to Co-Run in-House Fund

<em>Schroders has been appointed to help run an in-house fund for Nestlé as the multi-national brings investment management in-house.</em>
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(February 6, 2012)  —  Food giant Nestlé has appointed Schroders to co-run an investment vehicle with its in-house asset manager, a year after bringing much of its fund activities in-house.

Robusta Asset Management has appointed the largest listed investment manager in the United Kingdom to co-manage its emerging markets fund, according to an announcement on the Irish Stock Exchange.

Robusta Asset Management is an Ireland-incorporated fund management company wholly-owned by Nestlé and is employed to invest the parent’s pension scheme money and other cash pools.

The announcement to the exchange at the end of last week said Schroders had been appointed to co-run an emerging market equity fund, and had taken control of assets at the end of January.

Schroders declined to comment on the appointment.

Nestlé Capital Management, the York-based in-house manager of company assets, took over control of the Robusta funds in 2007 and by December 2010 had £7.1 billion under its auspices, according to the most recently available annual report. The company manages money for the company outside of its pension scheme, the assets of which are held on a pooled basis and amounted to CHF19.8 billion, or £13.6 billion, at the end of December 2010. At that time, the company’s aggregate pension deficit sat at CHF1.5 billion.

The launch of NCM sat alongside Nestlé’s decision to bring much of its asset management in-house. In 2008, JP Morgan Asset Management and Mellon Global Investors were axed from the external roster.

In 2010, NCM moved on with a plan to internalise the hedge fund of fund functions for up to 50% of the Nestlé Pension Fund assets, according to the manager’s annual report of the same year.

During the same time, a multi-strategy fund of hedge funds and a second private equity fund of funds were launched by Robusta Asset Management, according to its annual report.

 

At the end of December 2010, Robusta Asset Management was responsible for CHF9.3 billion. Schroders managed £182 billion at the end of September 2011.

Nestlé had not returned requests for comment at the time of going to press.