Investment & Pensions Europe

The death of Mark Mobius, widely regarded as a pioneer of emerging markets investing, on Wednesday 15 April 2026 has prompted tributes from across the global asset management industry. Mobius, who died aged 89, built a decades-long career identifying investment opportunities across developing economies, helping to shape institutional investors’ approach to emerging markets.

Standard Life has agreed to acquire Aegon UK, creating a pensions and savings group with 16 million customers and £480bn (€552bn) of assets under administration. Aegon put its UK business up for sale last year, as part of a wider restructuring that will result in its headquarters moving to the US and rebranding as Transamerica, a provider of life insurance, retirement, and investment solutions in the US. Standard Life will be purchasing the UK business for a total consideration of £2bn.

NEST, the UK workplace pension fund, has appointed Crescent Capital Group to manage an open-ended mandate investing in secured, first-priority loans to private companies. As part of the agreement, NEST has made an initial commitment of £450m (€517m) to be deployed over multiple years to Crescent, to further strengthen its exposure to private direct lending.

US private equity firm Warburg Pincus has established a dedicated European defence investment platform, aiming to capitalise on growing demand for security, resilience and strategic capabilities across the region. The firm said the platform will focus on private equity investments in defence, security and related sectors, as European governments increase spending and prioritise strategic autonomy.

ESG and the transatlantic divide are the greatest flashpoints between asset managers and asset owners voting by proxy at shareholder meetings, a report from an Oxford-based social venture has revealed. The research from OxProx, the Proxy Voting Divergence Report, showed that “asset owners show materially greater support for ESG and shareholder-initiated proposals, while asset managers tend to vote with management more consistently across all proposal types”.

Trusteeship has never been more demanding. UK trust‑based defined benefit (DB) schemes are now operating in an environment shaped by shifting regulatory expectations, evolving endgame strategies and heightened scrutiny from sponsors, regulators and members alike.

Norges Bank Investment Management, Smart Pensions, JP Morgan Asset Management, Santander Alternative Investments, Generali Asset Management, H.I.G. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) – Patrick du Plessis has been appointed as the new chief risk officer at NBIM, the manager of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global.

Herman Bril, the new chief investment officer of ABP since 1 January, fully supports the decision of the Dutch civil service pension fund to divest from fossil fuels. “But I also understand that people say we will be dependent on fossil fuels for a very long time to come.” With Herman Bril, ABP has finally found a new CIO after several years of interim solutions.

Investments in private equity yielded below-average returns for Dutch pension funds in 2025 although pension schemes nevertheless remain positive about the investment category. ABP and PFZW, the two largest pension schemes in the Netherlands with over €700bn in assets between them, invest approximately 8% of the portfolio in private equity. They achieved a negative return of 4.2% and 4.9% respectively in 2025.

IPE Membership IPE has created a suite of products and services for Europe’s institutional investment and pensions community. Pension fund interviews, country analysis and data Asset classes and strategies in depth Markus Schaen , Senior Fund Manager, MN, The Netherlands