The trustees of British Airways’ pension schemes have agreed to outsource all directly managed assets to BlackRock in the largest OCIO deal to date in the UK, bringing to an end one of the country’s most experienced independent in-house teams.
The move means dramatic changes for the 42 members of the BA Pensions in-house team, many of whom have been in place for well over 10 years.
Employees of provider British Airways Pension Investment Management Limited (BAPIML), including CIO David Stewart and deputy CIO John St Hill, have transferred to BlackRock, alongside some from the administration unit. The property team under Paul Scott also transfers to BlackRock, as reported by our sister publication IPE Real Assets.
By Tjibbe Hoekstra2021-05-10T15:53:00+01:00
Pension funds should be careful entering into agreements with NN Investment Partners until there’s more clarity about the future of the asset manager, according to consultants. But existing customers have little reason to be worried, they believe.
“Uncertainty about the strategic direction of an organisation never has a positive impact,” said Frans Verhaar of the consultancy bfinance, responding to last week’s news that NN Group is putting up its asset management arm for sale.
“You want to be relatively sure that the organisation you pick today will not turn out to be a radically different one in a few years’ time,” Verhaar added.