APG Asset Management, the investor for one of the world’s largest pension funds, has appointed a new chief investment officer.
Peter Branner, the former CIO and CEO at SEB Investment Management in Stockholm, will join APG as investment chief in September, the Dutch pension manager announced Tuesday.
Bart Le Blanc, chair of APG’s supervisory board, said in a statement that the board was pleased with the appointment of Branner, a “seasoned executive” with “broad international experience in the area of long-term investing.” The incoming CIO oversaw more than €100 billion ($117 billion) in client assets during his ten years at SEB, a Nordic financial services firm.
“We are therefore fully confident that he is the right person to make the difference for our funds and their participants when it comes to asset management,” Le Blanc said.
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The CIO role was previously held by Ronald Wuijster, who became CEO of APG Asset Management following Eduard van Gelderen’s May 2017 departure for the University of California. (Van Gelderen has since left UC to become investment chief at Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board.)
“Over the past years we have managed to realize very good investment returns,” Wuijster said in the statement. “I am very happy that Peter Branner is now joining our team as CIO and I am looking forward to continuing our work in achieving our ambitious goals together.”
Prior to joining SEB, Branner was CIO of the London multi-management division at Belgian asset manager Fortis Investments, which merged with BNP Paribas Investment Partners in 2010. He also held various investing positions at Luxembourg’s Ikano Group, culminating with managing director of Ikano Fund Management.
At APG, Branner will be responsible for overall investment operations serving numerous clients, with a mandate to “further optimize sustainable and long-term returns,” according to the pension manager’s statement.
In 2017, APG earned an average return of about 7 percent across its different client portfolios, according to its annual report released in April.