UK’s People Pension Creates In-House Adviser

The 32-billion-pound ($39.8 billion) People’s Pension, a U.K. defined contribution workplace pension, in 2021 formed People’s Investments Ltd., a subsidiary of People’s Partnership Ltd., and has named PIL as its main investment adviser to the trustee of the People’s Pension Master Trust.

A master trust is a pension used by multiple unrelated employers to manage their workers’ defined contribution plans.

“The master trust will now have a dedicated, in-house team producing investment advice and overseeing the assets, built and developed specifically with the needs of the trustee and members of the People’s Pension in mind,” stated a People’s Pension release.

According to the People’s Pension, its investment team is growing fast and will nearly double, to 23 people, by March, from its size one year ago.

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“This is an important stepping stone in building the foundations of a world class asset owner, projected to be overseeing £50 billion within the next four years,” People’s Partnership CIO Dan Mikulskis, who started in his role in September 2023, said in a statement. “Advising our Trustee directly will enable us to find and implement new ideas more efficiently and quickly.”

The move to create an-inhouse adviser team comes shortly after the pension announced that it has “now reached the scale where it is set to begin investing in private markets from later this year,” the pension fund stated. The pension’s trustees aim to allocate to private markets up to 10% of its growth pool assets, or 4 billion pounds, by 2030, intending to target infrastructure and real estate assets.

“What we are announcing today is a significant step forward on the path towards The People’s Pension investing in private markets, including key parts of the U.K. economy,” Mark Condron, chair of the People’s Pension’s board of trustees, said in a statement.

Key personnel on the expanded team include 2024 hires Leanne Clements, head of responsible investment; Lara Rodriguez and Lindsay Ireland, co-heads of equity; and Chelsea Parandian and Charlotte Vincent, co-heads of fixed income. More recent hires consist of Phil Butler as deputy CIO; Mark Smith as head of asset allocation; Kevin Openshaw as head of investment operations; and Cassie Traeger as stewardship manager.

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Tags: Cassie Traeger, Charlotte Vincent, Chelsea Parandian, Dan Mikulskis, Defined Contribution, Kevin Openshaw, Lara Rodriguez, Leanne Clements, Lindsay Ireland, Mark Smith, Master Trust, People’s Investments, People’s Partnership, People’s Pension, Phil Butler, workplace pension

A Florida police pension fund is suing the Target Corp. for allegedly hiding from investors the risks involved in promoting its social and environmental causes. The lawsuit, filed just days after Target dropped those policies, claims the company knew it risked being boycotted when it implemented its diversity, equity and inclusion, and environmental, social and governance initiatives, but failed to warn investors.

The plaintiffs’ filing argues the backlash caused by Target’s celebration of Pride Month in 2023 sent its stock plummeting. The stock also took a hit after the lawsuit was filed on January 31 and remained down 6% one week later.

The City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund, which filed the class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, also named as defendants Target CEO Brian Cornell and a dozen current and former members of the company’s board of directors. The complaint claims the alleged lack of disclosure violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

“This deceit, through misleading statements in the company’s public filings, including its 10-Ks and proxy statements, caused Target’s investors to purchase Target stock at artificially inflated prices and to unknowingly support Target’s Board and management in their misuse of investor funds to serve political and social goals,” the complaint states. “Specifically, the 2023 LGBT-Pride Campaign offended certain Target customers, provoking consumer backlash and boycotts that caused Target’s sales to fall for the first time in six years”

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The complaint notes that Target’s stock fell sharply again in November 2024 after it “reported disappointing earnings and guidance, as it continued to grapple with lingering effects of its ill-advised DEI campaigns that turned away customers, and apparently some customers for good.”

The proposed class covers investors who bought Target stock between August 26, 2022, and November 19, 2024.

Target did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The retail giant was previously sued for the same reason in 2023 by Target shareholder Brian Craig. Craig, who still owns stock in the company, bought approximately 216 shares of Target stock for $50,000 in April 2022. According to his complaint, the value of Craig’s shares had already plunged 30% to approximately $34,839 a little more than one year later and one month before the backlash started. The lawsuit states that after the backlash occurred, the value of his stock was down to $28,896.10.

That lawsuit is still working its way through the courts two and a half years later, indicating that the latest lawsuit is not likely to be litigated any time soon.