The former chief investment officer of Robeco, Marnix Vriezen, has taken over the management of the €1bn assets of the pension fund of C&A Nederland, the Dutch arm of the international clothes retailer.
Vriezen, 38, was CIO of Robeco for just over a year, before he left the company following a management re-shuffle by the chief executive George Möller.
He has taken over as both managing director and chief investment officer of Anthos Asset Management, replacing Wilhelm Rennebaum and Frank ten Brink.
Anthos is the new name for Brenca BV, which formerly managed the assets of the fund. Brenca is the house bank of the Brenninkmeijer family, the Dutch founders and owners of C&A, and was set up to provide financial services for their family and businesses. Brenca provided asset management services for the C&A pension fund, Stichting Algemeen Pensioenfonds Provisum, with two other asset managers until last year.
Provisum, based in Amsterdam, currently has 8,500 members, with 3,400 active members, 2,800 deferred members and 2,300 pensioners. Provisum has a strategic asset allocation of between 5% and 7% to fund of hedge funds and private equity. It plans to increase its exposure to alternative investments this year.
Anthos has taken over the management of Provisum’s real estate assets, formerly managed by the Dutch firm Focas. It will also manage the assets.
A spokesperson for Anthos said the asset management company would continue to confine its activities to managing assets of the Provisum fund and that there were no plans to look for other business.