AstraZeneca's pension scheme is understood to have appointed Goldman Sachs Asset Management for its move into a fund of hedge funds. Ahead of the pack compared with many of its UK peers in terms of its hedge fund appetite, the £2bn (&euro3.2bn) pharmaceutical company pension fund is one of the first in the UK to diversify further into hedge funds via multi-manager structures.

AstraZeneca also shortlisted Alpha Investment Management and Financial Risk Management. Brand recognition is believed to be among the reasons the trustees of the AstraZeneca pension scheme selected Goldman Sachs. But AstraZeneca, which is investing between £70m and £80m in Goldman Sachs' product, declined to comment on which fund of hedge fund group it eventually selected.