AstraZeneca Taps Mercer for Pensions Chief

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has appointed a former Mercer investment consultant to leads its global pensions team.

Andrew Foster started at AstraZeneca this week, CIO understands, and will oversee defined benefit funds in the UK, US, Germany, and Sweden.

In a 15-year career at Mercer, Foster was in charge of the consultancy group’s Liverpool investments office. His responsibilities included managing a team of 15 people and advising defined benefit and defined contribution clients on all aspects of investment.

In his new role, Foster has taken on $10.5 billion in assets but a combined deficit of almost $3 billion, according to AstraZeneca’s 2014 company report and accounts. The US, UK, and German pensions were closed to new members in 2000.

AstraZeneca agreed a £2.5 billion ($3.9 billion) longevity swap arrangement with Deutsche Bank in December 2013.

The company had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Elsewhere, Insight Investment has poached John Rushen from Aon Hewitt to take the newly-created role of head of institutional business for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia (EMEA). At Aon Hewitt, he was head of EMEA institutional services, and he has also held senior roles at BlackRock and Mercer.