Noticeboard


People moves


Independent trustee specialist PTL has named Dawn Harris as its inaugural chief operating officer. Interest in the firm’s services is increasing and so the role has been created to support PTL’s growth plans. Harris, who has more than 20 years of experience in the finance industry, joins from accountancy and law firm Oury Clark where she was director of finance. Local Pensions Partnership, which provides pension administration services to almost 600,000 members, has appointed Joanne Darby- shire as its pension administration director. Darbyshire (pictured) has been head of life plan-


ning and head of commercial and strategy at the Co-Operative Group. She is also a non-executive trustee and a director at Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. The UK’s largest pension scheme has named its next chief pensions officer. Helen


Noticeboard


It has been a busy month for Brunel Pension Partnership. The local government pension scheme pool is looking for firms to manage a diversified growth fund. The pool’s management said that their partner funds are interested in products that offer reasonable returns, diversifica- tion and carry less risk than equities. Brunel is currently asking for proposals and selected managers will be asked to make a formal tender in the coming months.


This follows its appointment of Quoniam and Robeco to manage low volatility man- dates. The Low Volatility Global Equities portfolio is initially worth £400m, but could rise to £600m. The duo won the selection process after explaining they would address the risk of valuation bubbles in low volatility strategies and how they incorporate ESG into their


12 | portfolio institutional | April 2019 | issue 83


decision making. Meanwhile, the pool has invested €50m (£43.3m) in a mid-market, Europe-focused infrastructure fund CIF2, which is managed by responsible investor Mirova.


A group of institutional investors, which includes BP Investment Management, the in-house asset manager for the UK BP Pen- sion Fund, has backed a new fund launched by venture capitalist Octopus Ventures. The firm has raised £83m for Zenith III, which invests in European technology companies. The £16bn West Midlands Pension Fund has appointed five firms to manage a sus- tainable equity framework. It will be open to all nine members of the LGPS Central pool and management targets it being worth £1bn in the first year. AGF, Baillie Gifford, Impax Asset Manage- ment, RBC Global Asset Management and


WHEB Asset Management are the chosen ones. Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) has bought a portfolio of onshore wind farms from Scottish Equity Partners. PiP’s Multi-Strategy Infrastructure Fund paid £50m for the assets, which range from single-turbine sites across the Orkney and Shetland Islands to utility-scale turbines in Curraghderrig, Ireland and Tilbury, London. Finally, defined benefit (DB) pension fund insurer Pension Insurance Corporation has lent £40m to Greatwell Homes, a housing association based in Northamptonshire. The debt, which is secured against some of Greatwell’s properties, will be used to build 600 affordable homes in the county. The long-term deal is spread across four tranches, which mature at various times between 2053 and 2058.


McEwan is now responsible for all pen- sions-related activity at the £64bn Universi- ties Superannuation Scheme (USS). McEwan has held several senior roles at Dutch life insurer Aegon and has sat on the boards of True Potential and NOW Pen- sions. She is also a non-executive director at healthcare insurer The Exeter. The British Steel Pension Scheme has unveiled its new trustee chair. Keith Green- field has replaced Allan Johnston, who has stood down after 12 years in the role. Greenfield has served as an independent trustee at the scheme for more than a year. RPMI Railpen has strengthened its governance body by welcoming two new faces to its investment board. Johanna Kyrklund (pictured) and Carl Bang have joined the investment manager of the £28bn railways


pension schemes. Bang has managed money for the Canadian


Calendar


Upcoming portfolio institutional roundtables:


16 May Emerging market debt


18 July Debt


12 September Responsible investing


07 November Real assets


National Railway Pension Fund and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. He has been chair and chief executive of State Street in France and was once chief invest- ment officer of the Qatar Foundation Endowment Fund. Kyrklund is Schroders’ global head of multi asset and sits on its management commit- tee. She has had stints at Insight Invest- ment and Deutsche Asset Management on her CV.


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