Tesco Pension Investment announces leadership changes

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Tesco Pension Investment, the £17bn (€18.6bn) in-house asset manager for the supermarket’s pension scheme, has announced a set of leadership changes linked to the current CEO and CIO’s plan to retire next year.

Steven Daniels will retire at the end of March 2021, it was revealed, with Danny Firth, currently deputy CEO, to take on the role of CEO following Daniels’ retirement.

The chief investment officer role will be carried out by Jenny Buck from next March. In anticipation of this move, she has been promoted to deputy CIO.

Nadir Maruf has been recruited from Eastspring Investments in Singapore to join the pension manager as head of private markets, taking over from Buck following her promotion.

Maruf was CIO for alternatives at Eastspring, the Asian asset management arm of Prudential plc, and will relocate.

Buck and Firth are to work closely with Daniels over the next month through a full handover process, Tesco Pension Investment said in a statement.

Daniels has been with Tesco Pension Investment since overseeing its creation in 2012, having joined the Tesco Pension Scheme the year before. In 2014, when Daniels’ team managed some £2.5bn of assets, he spoke to IPE about the shift to in-house management.

Ruston Smith, now chair of the board of trustees, was CEO of the in-house manager until 2017.

He said: “Steven has built an extremely capable team and delivered a strong track record of performance. During his time, Steven has made a significant contribution to the development and growth of the Scheme’s assets and I’m very confident that Danny and Jenny will continue to build on this success.”

Daniels said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed the last nine years, working with a brilliant team of colleagues to build TPI into the strong firm it is today, and delivering real value for Tesco colleagues. I’m delighted to be passing the baton to two very valued and talented colleagues in Danny and Jenny, and I look forward to welcoming Nadir to the team.”