William M Mercer has supplanted Towers Perrin as actuary, investment consultant and administrator for the £600m (€940.6m) pension plan of Caterpillar, the US agricultural and forestry machinery manufacturer.

The Caterpillar Pension Plan, which has 5,500 active members, 5,000 deferred members and 7,500 pensioners, is managed by Baring Asset Management and Invesco Asset Management.