PGGM seeks investment director for €2.2bn responsible equity portfolio

Dutch pension management giant PGGM Investments, which runs €80bn in assets for the health care pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, is looking to recruit a Senior Portfolio Manager/Investment Director for its new Responsible Equity Portfolio (REP).

The person will join the now nine-strong team running REP, to which PGGM committed €1bn in 2008. The fund plans to boost REP’s assets to €2.2bn during 2010, as previously reported in Responsible Investor.

The full-time role, to be based in Utrecht, calls for at least five-10 years experience running a concentrated public equity portfolio – and 10-20 years of total work experience.

The responsible equity portfolio is a “concentrated bottom-up strategy” that integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into the investment decision process and exercises active ownership. The method calls for rigorousprivate-equity style selection of individual companies.
Meanwhile, PGGM has announced the exclusion of FTSE 100-listed Indian mining company Vedanta Resources over environmental and human rights issues at its operations in the Indian state of Orissa. Its holdings – worth a total or more than €13m – have “now been fully liquidated”.

PGGM is following investors such as the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Church of England and Norwegian Government Pension Fund in exiting the company.

PGGM said its “intensive efforts” on the issue had not had any effect and that it decided on June 1 to add Vedanta and three subsidiaries to its exclusions list.
It said it has had an extensive exchange of correspondence with the company, as well as discussions with management. Vedanta declined to participate in a roundtable meeting with PGGM and experts. Job ad