The €375bn asset manager and pensions provider APG has appointed Philip Neyt as senior public affairs adviser on its strategy and policy team.

Alongside Theo Timmermans, head of APG’s international public affairs, Neyt is to focus on international stakeholder management.

Neyt has been chief executive at the country’s largest pension fund – the €5bn scheme of telecommunications provider Belgacom – for 15 years, and acted as an adviser on pensions for several Belgian governments.

He received numerous awards for pension fund management as well as for his personal contribution to the development of the pensions sector in Europe.

Neyt is also chairman of the Belgian Association of Pension Institutions and a member of the Belgian Corporate Governance Committee, as well as the Orientation Council of Euronext.

Dick Sluimers, chief executive at APG, said: “We are delighted Philip is joining APG, given his high profile and extensive knowledge.

“His broad network will strengthen our stakeholder management in Brussels and abroad.”

Neyt resigned as chief executive at the Belgacom scheme in June 2013 after 20 years of service.

At the time, local media reported that the departure of Neyt, who was named head of communications at Belgacom in 2011, was due to “internal political reasons” and disagreements with Didier Bellens, chief executive at the company.

The move came alongside the dismissal of Steven Van Casteren, managing director of Scarlet, the real estate branch of Belgacom, the same week.

Bellens was dismissed by the Belgian government months later.