UK - The London Borough of Croydon, the south London local authority is to move up to 12.5% of its pension fund into real estate. According to the most recent Pension Fund and their Advisers, the pension fund had assets of £500m(€751m) in 2006.

The fund, which is currently exclusively invested in equities, is seeking a real estate investment manager for a 10-year contract to manage a property portfolio of between £40m—£60m (€60.5m—€91m).

Pension fund spokesman Peter Davies said the fund arrived at 10 years after "looking at different options".

"Legally, we're bound to ensure the option of pulling out of the contract after 31 days, though obviously we'd rather not use it. We'd hope that it would last the full 10 years," he said.

The decision to move into real estate came as "part of a re-examination" of the fund's investment strategy. It plans to invest between 7.5% and 12.5% in real estate - probably focused on the UK, although Davies indicated the fund was open to suggestions from potential managers.

"We're moving into a slightly bigger league and we need to be flexible," he said.

Criteria for selection include investment approach, including social and corporate governance factors (35%); resources (20%); portfolio construction (15%); relative performance (15%); corporate structure (5%); fees (5%); and the ability to meet the specific requirements of the mandate (5%).