The UK’s £30bn (€33.8bn) Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed Sanjay Mistry to lead its alternative credit investing.

Previously in the private debt team at consultancy Mercer, Mistry will be responsible for managing the PPF’s existing alternative credit positions as well as sourcing, undertaking due diligence and structuring new investments.

The UK lifeboat fund’s line-up of alternative credit managers includes Apollo Management, Ares Management, and Oaktree Capital.

According to its latest annual report, the PPF had £3.5bn allocated to ‘other debt’ – outside of its investments in listed government and corporate bonds – at the end of March 2018. Almost three-quarters of its investment portfolio is invested in some form of fixed income.

Mistry’s appointment is the latest in a series of hires for the PPF as it continues to expand its in-house investment capabilities. It had already stated its intention to bring onboard part of its credit portfolio in the 2018-19 financial year.

“We may also look to insource other asset classes in the future when we have the necessary resource and expertise in place to do so,” the fund stated in its annual report, released in July.

The investment team, led by CIO Barry Kenneth, recently moved from the PPF’s headquarters in Croydon in south London to a central London office in an effort to be closer to the fund’s investment managers and improve its chances of attracting and retaining staff.

Last year the fund brought in Tim Robson as head of alternatives and Purna Bhudia as head of credit. In 2015 it hired Trevor Welsh to lead its liability-driven investment strategy, and Ian Scott joined from Barclays in 2016 as head of investment strategy. 

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