The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will hire up to 10 more equity managers to invest P10 billion worth of funds in the domestic market.
In a Feb. 23 notice, the GSIS said the mandate size of the local equity managers to be hired will be “based on the historical performance and investment capabilities of each.”
Since the GSIS enjoys tax-exemption, it said equity managers “must strive to assert such tax-exempt status in all its dealings and investments on behalf of the GSIS to avoid unnecessary costs to the fund, except on the VAT (value-added tax) that must be reflected and form part of the proposed bid,” referring to the 12-percent VAT.
“The GSIS investible fund is further exempted from attachment, garnishment, levy, or other processes issued by the courts, quasi-judicial agencies, or administrative agencies,” it added.
The GSIS board in 2021 approved hiring local equity managers through limited source bidding. As such, the state-run pension fund for government workers prequalified members of the Fund Managers Association of the Philippines and the Trust Officers Association of the Philippines.
To qualify, bidders must have a minimum of P10 billion in assets under management on a discretionary full-equity fund as of end-2021; assets amounting to at least P5 billion as of last year; as well as a 10-year track record in domestic equity fund management.
The GSIS made bidding documents available from Feb. 23 to April 4. The deadline to submit bids is on April 8.
“The local equity managers which currently provide fund management services to the GSIS are automatically disqualified from this bidding process,” it said.
In 2018, the Inquirer reported that the GSIS abandoned its plan to shore up offshore investments as it no longer pushed through with the bidding for two foreign fund managers.
The pension fund’s board, then chaired by now president and general manager Rolando Macasaet, veered away from the multiasset-strategy shepherded by resigned GSIS chief Jesus Clint Aranas in 2017, and instead shifted to more domestic investments.