Legal & General to manage $20 billion for National Grid pension

LONDON Legal & General Group Plc announced a deal with the National Grid UK Pension Scheme on Friday to manage its 13 billion pounds ($20 billion) in assets.

As part of the agreement, Legal & General will acquire Aerion Fund Management, National Grid’s in-house manager of the funds.

The pension scheme oversees 17 billion pounds on behalf of its 107,000 members. While Aerion manages 13 billion pounds, the remainder is managed by external asset management companies.

“Moving away from in house asset management has been a difficult strategic decision for the trustees,” said

Nigel Stapleton, chairman of the scheme.

“However, the increasing maturity of the Scheme and evolution to our investment strategy meant it was a carefully considered decision that we could not avoid making.”

The transaction is expected to complete before the end of the year.

($1 = 0.6482 pounds)

(Reporting by Nishant Kumar; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)