The £30m (€50m) Thomson Directories' pension fund has dropped Merrill Lynch Asset Managers to run a £15m active balanced mandate and has appointed Barclays Global Investors (BGI) as a replacement.

The BGI mandate is not a traditional balanced brief as it has a fixed benchmark, according to an official at the fund. The advertising, marketing and information solutions company, which sponsors the scheme, declined to comment on the reasons behind the change and officials at Merrill Lynch declined to comment. Britannic Asset Management continues to manage the remaining £15m.