The £17bn (€23.6bn) National Grid UK Pension Scheme has appointed Philips Pensioenfonds CIO Rob Schreur as chief executive.

Schreur will take up his new role at the UK pension scheme for the privatised electricity network operator in the autumn.

He is to head up the executive team, which will report to the scheme’s trustees, advising on asset-manager monitoring, investment strategy and liability management.

The National Grid Pension Scheme recently placed its in-house investment manager up for sale.

National Grid wholly owns Aerion Fund Management, which controlled around 75% of the pension fund’s assets, but, as the scheme matured and sought to shift towards a more complex liability-driven investment (LDI) strategy, it decided to offload the asset manager.

The sales process is still ongoing.

Schreur leaves Philips Pensioenfonds after more than 15 years.

At the €18bn Dutch scheme, he was responsible for the overall investment strategy, asset-liability management (ALM), asset allocation, risk management and oversight.

Nigel Stapleton, chair of National Grid scheme trustees, said Schreur’s experience in ALM and European best practices would be invaluable.