Mike Weston has been appointed as the first chief executive of the Pensions Infrastructure Platform, (PIP), the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has confirmed.
Weston (pictured), who was previously chief investment officer of the Daily Mail General Trust (DMGT), will take on the role with immediate effect.
The NAPF, which owns PIP Ltd, confirmed its maiden allocation to the asset class through the PPP Equity PIP Limited Partnership, managed by Dalmore Capital, in February.
NAPF chief executive, Joanne Segars said: “PIP now has nearly a third of a billion pounds worth of investment committed to its first appointed investment manager and over £200m of this is already funding 41 separate infrastructure assets.
“This is exactly the right time to appoint a Chief Executive and Mike’s experience in leading pension scheme investments, including extensive investment in infrastructure, makes him ideally suited to this role. I am delighted to announce his appointment.”
Weston said of his appointment: “The PIP has made a great start and provided UK pension funds with significant access to high quality infrastructure investment at an attractive price. This new role is a great challenge – I am very much looking forward to accelerating the PIP’s progress and building a world-class infrastructure business for pension funds by pension funds.”
Speaking in a recent interview with portfolio institutional about his time at DMGT, Weston said: “I think the right kind of infrastructure is a great asset class for pension schemes as their liability profiles can accommodate the illiquidity; it’s long-term, stable and you can get inflation linkage.
“I was able to increase our weighting in infrastructure through funds. We were not big enough to be one of the founding Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PIP) investors, but my view was always that once it was up and running it would be an obvious fund to invest in. PIP will have much lower fees, the investment expertise and scale of funds to pursue the investment opportunities in the UK.”
NAPF fund members will be able to attend an Infrastructure Breakfast at the NAPF Annual Conference in Liverpool on Thursday 16 October, where they will be able to meet Weston and hear a briefing on the PIP’s investments to date and plans for the future.
Comments