New Alternatives Specialist for Royal Mail Pension

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The former head of alternatives at one of the UK’s largest pensions has landed at another fund.

Bev Durston
(July 29, 2013) -- Bev Durston, the former head of alternatives at the BA Pension Fund is to join the Royal Mail pension to help shape its portfolio, aiCIO understands.

The £3.4 billion Royal Mail pension informed its advisers, asset managers, and other market participants last week that Durston would be joining on a contract basis this summer-subject to final agreement from all parties.

Durston left the BA pension in June in order to return to Australia, where she had lived for 20 years, aiCIO revealed. She is to maintain these travel plans and work for the Royal Mail Pension from Australia on a part-time basis. Before returning to the UK in 2008, UK-born Durston had worked at various Australian superannuation funds and the Government Investment Company of Singapore.

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During her five-year tenure at BA, the alternatives portfolio made an annualised 16% return, with 6% volatility. It was allocated across various asset classes that make up the sector.

The Royal Mail pension told suppliers that the fund would increasingly be making direct investments in hedge funds and private markets, and Durston's experience would help shape the portfolio.

Last year, the Royal Mail operated one of the largest pensions in the UK due to its background as a public sector employer. In May 2012, the fund handed over some £27.5 billion in assets-along with a chunk of its liabilities-to the UK Treasury. The fund was left with just £2.5 billion, but had already grown to over £3.2 billion in May this year.

Durston's appointment follows a reshuffle at the Royal Mail fund. In April, aiCIO revealed that Chris Hogg, head of funding at the Royal Mail pension, was elevated to CEO, while Ian McKnight, senior investment strategy manager, took the newly created position of CIO at then £3.2 billion fund. These moves followed the departure of long-time CEO Gerry Degaute.

Hogg and McKnight have both featured on aiCIO's Forty Under Forty lists--Durston featured on the Power 100.

The Royal Mail pension's press representatives have confirmed the move.