Man Group, the world’s biggest hedge fund group, has been hired by Germany’s biggest pension scheme to help it invest €1.2bn in other hedge funds, in a sign its plan to diversify away from the direct management of its own funds is bearing fruit.

Man, which has had mixed business fortunes in recent years, is laying great store by its managed accounts platform, as this service is known. It is a way for Man to rent out the hedge-fund-picking expertise it has in its fund-of-funds business to large institutional investors, for a fee.