UK - South Tyneside Council pension fund has hired Colliers CRE to provide quarterly valuation services for its £375m (€567m) property portfolio. Colliers replaces incumbent Lambert Smith Hampton after winning a tender first announced last June.

Colliers won because it provided the "most advantageous tender", according to Ian Bainbridge, a spokesman for the £3.6bn (€5.4bn) pension fund. Criteria for the contract included fees (with a 50% weighting) quality of service (30%), proven ability (10%) and personnel (10%).

South Tyneside local authority, based in the northeast of England, also asked bidding firms to demonstrate that they could provide valuation services nationwide. The fund’s property portfolio comprises 33 properties located across the UK (‘Tyneside pension fund tenders valuation’, IPE Real Estate, 12-06-2006).

Bainbridge said the decision to replace its valuation service provider was "part of an ongoing review".

According to the pension fund’s most recent available figures, property – which makes up around 10% of the pension fund – returned 19% in 2005—2006.

A strategy drawn up by investment adviser Hymans Robertson in 2005 argued that the fund should invest 67.5% in equities, 22.5% in bonds and 10% in real estate. In 2006 the fund also moved into active currency management.