LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Legal & General Group Plc announced a deal with the National Grid UK PensionScheme on Friday to manage its 13 billion pounds ($20 billion)in assets.
As part of the agreement, Legal & General will acquireAerion Fund Management, National Grid's in-house manager of thefunds.
The pension scheme oversees 17 billion pounds on behalf ofits 107,000 members. While Aerion manages 13 billion pounds, theremainder is managed by external asset management companies.
"Moving away from in house asset management has been adifficult strategic decision for the trustees," said Nigel Stapleton, chairman of the scheme.
"However, the increasing maturity of the Scheme andevolution to our investment strategy meant it was a carefullyconsidered decision that we could not avoid making."
The transaction is expected to complete before the end ofthe year. ($1 = 0.6482 pounds) (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)