The FRR then implements allocation decisions by allocating the appropriate amounts to the various selected managers. FRR investments are made entirely through investment service providers, with the exception of day-to-day cash management.

“Portfolio” investments consist of management mandates awarded through calls for tenders, or UCIs subject to a rigorous selection process. The selection of service providers is managed by the Delegated Management and Responsible Investment Department, whose missions are to propose managers for selection to implement asset allocation choices, supervise investments and report on them, propose orientations and implement ESG policy, and finally manage FRR cash.

Most allocation implementation vehicles are mandates, which allow the FRR to precisely specify its management objectives and constraints, and then exercise, through the managers, a voting and engagement policy in line with best practices. These management objectives and constraints include significant ESG aspects, such as exclusions and decarbonisation rates.

FRR mandates comprise both index replication mandates (particularly on large and mid-cap eurozone equities against smart beta indices aiming to achieve medium/long-term outperformance compared to standard market-cap weighted indices) and active management mandates seeking persistent relative outperformance, for example on small-cap equities, Japanese equities or corporate bonds.

This “core-satellite” approach implemented on management mandates aims to guarantee, at the lowest possible cost, exposure to the main markets, with selection risk primarily concentrated on active strategies deemed best able to remunerate it.

For active management, several managers are selected per geographical zone to diversify overall portfolio risk. At end 2024, active management represents approximately 60% of the FRR’s total net assets, but other management approaches also seek to optimise returns (on French government bonds for example) or ESG aspects (on portfolios benchmarked against “smart beta” indices in the eurozone for example).

Several unlisted asset mandates are also part of the FRR portfolio, in private equity (8 mandates) and private debt (4 mandates).

Unlisted assets are included in the portfolio as substitutes for listed assets, insofar as the strategic allocation is exclusively composed of the latter. Unlisted assets provide, over the long term, a yield premium compared to listed assets with comparable long-term risk.

As a long-term investor, the FRR can incorporate a share of illiquid assets and capture this yield premium. It calibrates the share of illiquid assets so as not to have to sell them, even in a highly adverse scenario.

UCI investments are chosen in case of operational constraints or to gain flexibility. They cover several asset classes: emerging market debt, emerging market equities, unlisted assets (part of private equity and private debt, real estate, infrastructure) and cash management.

Two specific cross-cutting “Overlay” mandates allow hedging of the FRR’s currency risk and, through investments in simple derivatives (futures contracts traded on regulated markets on equity or bond indices), adjusting the allocation without intervening in portfolio securities management or implementing optional hedging strategies on regulated markets.

Finally, transition managers help optimise the costs of buying and selling securities when changing managers, making contributions to or withdrawals from mandates.

The FRR annual report includes a detailed map of the different mandates and funds composing the FRR portfolio.

The Pension Reserve Fund is a public entity subject to the provisions of the Public Procurement Code for the award of its contracts. In addition to the applicable legal notices, the FRR announces the launch of its calls for tenders via its website. Documents for the launch of a procedure can be downloaded from the “Achats Publics” dematerialisation platform.

Find all contracts concluded by the FRR in the Publications > List of concluded contracts section.