ATP, PensionDanmark, Skandia, Achmea Investment Management, Actiam, VBV Group, Erste Asset Management, Raiffeisen Capital Management, Pictet Asset Management, AXA Investment Managers, Natixis, Sacker & Partners LLP, Linklaters

ATP – Lars Gjørret started work on 1 January as property investment manager at ATP Real Estate, within its investment & portfolio unit. He comes to ATP from an eight-year stretch at PensionDanmark, where he was most recently project director specialising in residential developments. ATP said Gjørret’s main responsibility at its property investment division would be to execute the new strategy within residential investments, and that he would also take part in property development generally.

Skandia – Per Wahlström, one of the two head directors of Skandia in Denmark, is taking over sole responsibility for the company’s Danish business. The current co-head, Charsten Christensen, is to leave the company in the summer, when he has completed a big strategic project. Wahlström will take on the role of chief executive of Skandia Link Livsforsikring (Life Insurance). Skandia said the change in management was result of its efforts to reduce the number of its Danish legal business entities to two from six. It said the changes it has made in the last three years meant it could now focus on offering unit-link pension products and health-related products.

Achmea Investment Management – Jacob de Wit has been appointed chairman of the new asset management division as of 1 February. He is to succeed Hans Snijders, who has been holding the position on an interim basis. De Wit has been executive chairman at asset manager Actiam. Prior to this, he was a member of the executive committee at F&C Asset Management. Achmea Investment Management was established on 1 January after Syntrus Achmea Vermogensbeheer and Achmea Beleggingsfondsen Beheer merged.

VBV Group – Andreas Zakostelsky is to join the occupational pension provider as group chief executive, a move first reported by IPE earlier this week. Zakostelsky, an Austrian MP and former head of Valida Group, will assume the new position in April, replacing Karl Timmel, who is retiring after 26 years in the role. Timmel will be replaced as head of VBV Pensionskasse by Gernot Heschl, who joined the board at the beginning of the year, and previously worked for Erste Group Bank and UniCredit/Bank Austria Group.

Erste Asset Management – Robert Senz has been appointed head of fixed income. Senz has more than 25 years of experience in fixed income and has worked at Raiffeisen Capital Management, where he was CIO for bonds. The current head, Alexander Fleischer, will take an educational leave at his own request.

Pictet Asset Management – Simon Gottelier joins as senior investment manager for the Water strategy from Impax Asset Management, while Peter Lingen joins as senior investment manager to co-manage the Robotics strategy from Swedbank Robur. Christian Roessing joins the thematic equities team from Vontobel Asset Management, and Cyril Benier has been appointed as a senior investment manager in the small-cap equities team, joining from AXA Investment Managers.

AXA Investment Managers – The Duy Nguyen has been appointed as a senior portfolio manager. Nguyen will be responsible for managing multi-asset class portfolios within AXA IM’s structured finance team. He joins from Natixis, where he spent five years in the European asset-backed securities and collateralised loan obligations trading team.

Sacker & Partners LLP – The UK law firm for pension scheme trustees, employers and providers has strengthened its defined contribution offering with the appointment of Jacqui Reid as an associate director. Reid was previously at Linklaters for 15 years, where she advised trustee and employer clients on defined benefit, DC and hybrid schemes.

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