Begging bowl as funds resort to asset sales

PENSION funds are going cap in hand for bailouts as the budget crisis rages.

Reports say some funds have resorted to asking the companies that typically set them up – where its members work or used to – for cash.

One of those said to have done so is outsourcing giant Serco, which has been handed £60millon. It comes as the bank of England continued a potential £65billion Government bond buying spree, in a bid to prevent the mass insolvency of pension funds.

Ariel bezalel, from fund manager Jupiter, said: “There’s a lot of forced selling [of assets].” Michael Eakins, chief investment officer of Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement provider, called it “a complete firesale”.