The People’s Pension has named two co-heads of real assets to boost its efforts to allocate up to £4bn to private markets.
People’s Partnership, the provider of the £30bn The People’s Pension master trust, announced today that Marija Simpraga and Raymond Wright would jointly lead up its real assets investment team.
The two hires form part of The People’s Pension’s intention to invest 10% of the “growth” assets in its default fund in private markets by 2030. The master trust plans to invest a “substantial proportion” of this in the UK, it said, subject to an appropriate pipeline of assets.
Dan Mikulskis, chief investment officer at People’s Partnership, said the hires were “an important milestone” in building out master trust’s investment team.
“Their expertise will enable us to ensure we get the best value for our seven million members in an area which presents an exciting opportunity,” he said.
Simpraga joins from Legal & General Investment Management, where she led private infrastructure research. This focused on clean energy and digital infrastructure, with input into more than £10bn worth of real assets strategies.
She also previously led European utilities equity research at Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Wright joins from London CIV, the asset pooling company for London’s 32 local government pension funds, where he was a private markets portfolio manager.
He previously worked in Royal Mail’s internal pension investment team, and spent 16 years at British Airways Pensions.
Simpraga said: “Our goal is to develop and implement a scalable private markets strategy that generates strong, risk-adjusted returns by deploying capital in private infrastructure and real estate.
“We’re committed to achieving positive real-world outcomes alongside financial performance, investing in assets vital to the UK’s economic growth and energy transition.”
Wright added: “This is a unique opportunity to not only expand our existing portfolio but also deliver real, tangible benefits to our members by building a strong and dynamic private markets platform from the ground up.
“The investments we make will aim to provide better returns for members, while integrating environmental, social and governance principles that align with their values.”
