The People’s Pension now has its own dedicated in-house investment team, with the authorisation of People’s Investment Limited (PIL).
This new division will be overseen by CIO Dan Mikulskis (pictured) and will offer investment advice to the trustees as well as overseeing the master trust’s £32bn of assets under management.
Previously Barnett Waddingham had acted as investment advisers to the scheme.
Mikulskis’s investment team has almost doubled in the space of a year, and by March will have 23 investment professionals. New hires include those with expertise in a range of areas, including banking, hedge funds, asset management and consulting.
PIL will continue to benefit from the expertise of investment consultants where appropriate, using consulting firms on a project basis with a panel of potential providers.
This news follows the master trust’s recent announcement that its scale means it will start investing in private markets later this year. This follows the recent government announcement that it wants to encourage greater DC investment into private assets, particularly in the UK. The People’s Pension already invests 14 per cent of its members savings in listed UK-based assets within its growth stage default fund.
The People’s Pension chair of the board of trustees Mark Condron says: “It has been great to see the development of the investment team within People’s Partnership and we believe we are now at a stage where it is appropriate for the team to take on the primary advisory role to the trustee.
“We thank Barnett Waddingham for their work in this role for much of the last decade which has helped put the People’s Pension in the strong position it is today.”
Mikulskis adds: “This is an important stepping stone in building the foundations of a world class asset owner, projected to be overseeing £50bn within the next four years.
“Advising our trustee directly will enable us to find and implement new ideas more efficiently and quickly, leaving additional value in the hands of our members.”
Chris Fagan, chair of The People’s Pension’s trustee investment committee, adds: “A close partnership between an investment committee and in-house experts is a key part of creating a great asset owner.”
