Watson Wyatt Worldwide, the investment consultant, almost doubled the number of pension contracts it awarded for private equity, hedge funds and real estate investments last year, underlining a shift by UK pension funds towards alternative assets. The move came as private equity was shown to be among the best-performing asset classes in 2005.

Watson Wyatt, which has more than 450 clients with more than $1 trillion (€840bn) in assets under management, awarded 61 pension contracts for alternative investments in 2005, up from 32 contracts the previous year.