USS, IIGCC, APG, ATP, Hermes GPE, First State Investments, PGIM Fixed Income, JPMAM, Lyxor, Neuberger Berman, AMP Capital, NN IP

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) – In January Ben Clissold will join the UK’s largest private pension fund as head of fixed income and treasury of its investment management business, a newly created role.

According to USS, he will be responsible for developing and delivering the business strategy and objectives as well as managing a team covering government bonds, non-government and emerging debt, related derivatives and foreign exchange and treasury execution responsibilities.

Clissold was most recently at BlackRock , where he became responsible for managing the investment decisions relating to the liability-driven investing business across the EMEA region. He was also the lead portfolio manager on £85bn (€98bn) of BlackRock’s largest sterling-denominated LDI portfolios.

He has also worked at P-solve, an investment consultancy and asset manager that is now part of River & Mercantile Group, CIBC World Markets and ING Bank. His USS appointment is subject to approvals.

Simon Pilcher, USS Investment Management CEO, said: “I am very pleased to be welcoming Ben to this key role in the team. Ben brings new skills and capabilities to USS as we continue to deliver market-leading returns for our members over the long-term.”

Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) – Five new board members were confirmed at the IIGCC’s annual general meeting yesterday:

  • Jelle van der Giessen , chief investment officer, NN Group;
  • Roelfien Kuijpers , head of responsible investments and head of global client group for Ireland, Scandinavia and UK at DWS;
  • Karlijn van Lierop , director for responsible investment and a member of the management fiduciary advice team, MN; 
  • Udo Riese , global head of risk and monitoring, Allianz Investment Management SE; and
  • Ian Simm , founder and chief executive, Impax Asset Management

The IIGCC said: “The seniority of appointees reflects the importance placed on climate change by the investment community and the impact of IIGCC in addressing the issue.”

APG – The €529bn Dutch asset manager and pensions provider APG has appointed Kristel Timmers as its head of group legal. In her new role, she will be responsible for managing legal risks that come with APG’s corporate activities. Timmers had been manager at APG’s Labour Legal Affairs since 2012. Prior to this, she worked at law firm Loyens & Loeff.

ATP — The property arm of Denmark’s biggest pension fund ATP has appointed Tine Cederholm Bemberg as its new head of asset management. At ATP Real Estate, Cederholm Bemberg will report to the unit’s new CIO Kenneth Olsson . She currently works for Danish property developer C. W. Obel Ejendomm e as a lawyer. Cederholm Bemberg has also previously worked for Denmark’s largest listed real estate company Jeudan for 12 years as a lawyer in various roles. She will take up her new job at ATP Real Estate on 1 February 2020.

Hermes GPE – The joint venture, between Hermes Fund Managers, GPE Partner and HGPE Capital, has appointed Hamish de Run head of infrastructure to replace Peter Hofbauer , who will leave the company with immediate effect. De Run was a partner at Hermes Infrastructure for five years up to 2017 and helped in the deployment of the HIF I fund.

First State Investments – Four new global leadership appointments have been made at First State Investments, which was recently acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group . 

Rob Scott has been hired as chief operating officer, having previously been head of global operations at Nikko Asset Management in Tokyo. He has also worked at Deutsche Asset Management, BNP Paribas Securities Services, and ABN AMRO Asset Management across the Asia region.

In addition, Justin Hourigan has been appointed global head of data, Lorraine Dryland chief information security officer, and Ben Marks chief audit officer. 

Next year First State Investments will rebrand to First Sentier Investors in all markets in which it operates; its Australian business already runs under this brand.

PGIM Fixed Income – Mark Fulwood has joined the asset manager as a UK client advisor from Janus Henderson Investors , where he was most recently head of institutional business development for the UK and Ireland. PGIM Fixed Income has also hired three senior credit analysts to its London-based team: Aman Mahal , Gianluca Consoli and Terry Nguyen .

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) – Myles Bradshaw has been appointed head of global aggregate fixed income strategies within the asset manager’s global fixed income currencies and commodities (GFICC) group. He succeeds Iain Stealey , who was promoted to international CIO for GFICC earlier this year.

JPMAM’s global aggregate strategies team leverages the JPMAM GFICC platform for its multi-sector bond portfolios. The platform currently has more than 270 investors managing money across government bonds, credit, emerging markets debt, currency and securitised debt.

Lyxor – Vincent Denoiseux has been appointed head of ETF research and solutions, a new role. Based in London, Vincent will report to David Lake, Lyxor UK CEO, and to Matthieu Mouly, Chief Client Officer for Lyxor ETF.

Before joining Lyxor, Denoiseux was head of portfolio solutions at DWS . Previously he developed fund linked investment solutions at Exane Derivatives (BNP Paribas), and he has also been a head of quantitative research, firstly at BNP Paribas Investment Partners and subsequently at Lehman Brothers Asset Management.

Neuberger Berman – The employee-owned asset manager has launched a Japan-based equities team witha focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)-related engagement. It will be led by Keita Kubota , who joins from Aberdeen Standard Investments , where he most recently served as deputy head of Japan equities. Two analysts, one specialising in ESG investing, will support Kubota.

The team will manage a strategy targeting attractive returns through active engagement and constructive dialogue with Japanese small/mid-cap companies in which the team invests.

AMP Capital – Ric Gordon has been poached from Macquarie Capital for the role of head of asset management, Americas, for AMP’s infrastructure equity business. At Macquarie, Gordon led asset management for the Americas, Europe and Asia from 2013.

NN Investment Partners – Edith Siermann, head of specialised fixed income and responsible investing, has been appointed acting head of the Dutch asset manager’s emerging markets debt (EMD) team. NN said her appointment “follows the decision of several portfolio managers of the EMD team to pursue their career outside the company” and that it had taken the necessary measures to ensure continuity in the management of EMD mandates and funds. Siermann replaces Marcelo Assalin.

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