Éric Loiselet (Ircantec), NN Investment Partners, AP3, Skandia Liv, AXA Investment Managers, BlueBay Asset Management, Pictet Asset Management, British Steel Pension Scheme, Miton, Schroders, bfinance, KBI Global Investors, Baker & McKenzie, Eumedion, BlackRock, Stap APF 

Éric Loiselet (Ircantec) – Éric Loiselet, adviser to Jean-Pierre Costes, president of the €9.2bn French public sector pension scheme Ircantec and a leading figure in responsible investment in France, has died, aged 56. Loiselet was also co-founder and a director of the French responsible investment forum (FIR) and an advocate of the now well-known Article 173 of France’s energy transition law. He was previously also a member of the board of directors at the civil service pension fund ERAFP.

NN Investment PartnersMaureen Schlejen has been appointed head of institutional relations for the Dutch market, joining on 1 January 2017. She joins from Robeco, where she has worked for more than 20 years. She will be responsible for NN IP’s sales and relationship management for Dutch institutional clients, including pension funds and insurance companies. Meanwhile, Gabriella Kindert was appointed as manager of alternative credit. Kindert has more than 20 years of experience and has been in managing positions at the former private asset manager MeesPierson and BNP Paribas IP.

AP3Gunnar Blix has been appointed by the Swedish buffer fund to the role of senior Swedish equities manager. Blix has worked for many years on the Swedish equities portfolio of Skandia Liv (Skandia Life), both as an employee of Skandia and for some of the time as an employee of Den Norske Bank.

AXA Investment ManagersFranz Wenzel has been appointed as an institutional solutions strategist within the Multi Asset Client Solutions investment platform. He will be responsible for the development of multi-asset solutions for institutional clients in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. He was previously chief strategist in the research and investment team, having joined AXA IM in 1997 as a European economist.

BlueBay Asset ManagementAnahita Firouzbakht has been appointed to the newly created position of director of consultant relations at the fixed income manager. Based in London, she will focus on managing BlueBay’s relationships with consultants within the institutional market. She joins from Pictet Asset Management, where she was vice-president in the global consultants team. Before then, she held positions at Partners Group and Duet Group.

British Steel Pension Scheme – British Steel’s pension fund manager Jim Wright has been hired for the launch of a global equity infrastructure fund at Miton. The fund, subject to regulatory approval, will be launched in the second quarter of next year. Wright has been with British Steel since 2006, managing a £560m (€628m) portfolio investing in global infrastructure stocks. He will join Milton in January next year.

SchrodersGuy Henriques has been appointed country head for the UK business. He will return from Japan, where he was country head for Schroders from 2012 to August 2016. In addition, Robin Stoakley, managing director of UK intermediary, will hand over the management of the business to James Rainbow, head of UK financial institutions and strategic accounts, and Phil Middleton, head of UK intermediary business development, who will become co-heads.

bfinanceKathryn Saklatvala has been appointed global content director at the investment consultancy. Prior to joining bfinance, Saklatvala was managing editor at Institutional Investor’s Digital Networks, part of Euromoney Institutional Investor.

KBI Global Investors – The Dublin-based manager, formerly Kleinwort Benson Investors, has appointed William Lynch as senior vice-president of business development for North America. He joins from New Amsterdam Partners, where he was a partner and head of marketing and client service.

Baker & McKenzie – Law firm Baker & McKenzie is to appoint Pauline Bakker to increase the capacity of its pensions services. Bakker has gained eight years of experience at law firm HVG, Dutch pensions insurer Zwitserleven and pensions adviser Watson Wyatt.

Eumedion – The corporate governance platform for institutional investors has appointed Amra Baliç to its board. Baliç is head of the London-based investment EMEA stewardship team at BlackRock. She succeeds Frank Curtiss, who has retired.

Stap APF – Stap, the new general pension fund of insurer Aegon and its subsidiary TKP Pensioen, has named Gerard Frankema as director. Frankema has been working at Dutch pension funds and pensions-administration providers for the last 20 years.