Dutch pension fund PFZW has reduced its equity portfolio in the first half of 2025 from roughly 2,500 to 800 companies, caused by a shift from passive to active management.
As a result of the strategy change, BlackRock, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and AQR Capital Management are no longer selected as equity managers by the Dutch pension fund for healthcare workers.
PFZW announced the massive reduction of its equity portfolio yesterday. This has been the result of a new investment strategy, in which return, risk and sustainability are equally balanced. As of 30 June, the fund had €248bn in assets, of which €52bn were invested in equities.
The setup, which was introduced in 2022 with new investment beliefs, also called for a new strategy for its equity portfolio.
In the first half of 2025, PFZW therefore abandoned its previous passive approach, in which the pension fund largely tracked the FSTE All World Index of 3,500 companies.
Because the fund excluded, for example, tobacco companies, and does not invest in companies that do not comply with OECD guidelines, the actual portfolio was already reduced to roughly 2,500 names.
The new active strategy has led to a further reduction to 800 companies. PFZW did not announce which companies have been sold.
According to its newly published equity investment list, as of 30 June, the fund’s top five equity investments consist of Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Welltower and Amazon.
According to PFZW, the new portfolio has a risk profile similar to the broad FTSE market index. The diversification across sectors and regions remains, with a slight shift toward European and Dutch companies.
The new active strategy will be executed by eight asset managers: Robeco, Man Numeric, Acadian, Lazard, Schroders, M&G, UBS Asset Management, and PGGM. BlackRock, LGIM and AQR have lost their equity mandates.
A PFZW spokesperson said the eight asset managers were selected as best suited for its new active investment strategy. He did not comment on whether BlackRock was terminated because it is an American asset manager or because of a difference of opinion with BlackRock on sustainable investing.
He pointed out that PFZW has selected American asset managers for its new active strategy (Acadian, Man Numeric and Lazard).
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