After an evaluation, PME, the pension fund for the Dutch technology industry, has decided to withdraw its €5bn global ESG equity portfolio from the American asset manager BlackRock. The investment will be transferred to UBS Asset Management and MN, PME announced yesterday.
This is the second mandate that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has lost to a Dutch pension giant this year. In September, PFZW announced that it had transferred a €12bn equity mandate that the firm managed to other managers.
BlackRock manages approximately 30% (€5bn) of PME’s total equity portfolio.
The fund’s decision to leave BlackRock follows a thorough evaluation of its board.
“The reason for the evaluation had been ongoing for some time,” said a spokesperson. “That was the process leading up to the Portfolio of Tomorrow , in which we screen the companies we invest in based on ESG criteria. This allows us to select companies that are valuable now and in the future, and to build a stable investment portfolio that can withstand global changes.”
Values
The new approach also prompted PME’s board to review the asset managers involved, according to the spokesperson.
“We are satisfied with the services BlackRock has provided to PME in recent years, but the board took a broader view in its evaluation. We also considered whether the manager aligns with our values and beliefs regarding investing for the future. MN and UBS align better in that regard.”
PME did not elaborate further on why BlackRock would not align with those values.
The €5bn split between the Dutch and Swiss asset managers will be determined “in a subsequent phase”.
The change to the equity mandate is expected to be implemented in the first quarter of 2026. PME will also be parting ways with BlackRock as manager of its money market funds. A new manager has not yet been selected.
Origin and net zero
As PME is swapping an American manager for two European ones, the fund’s spokesperson said the country of origin played a role in the broader considerations for switching asset managers.
BlackRock’s decision to withdraw from the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM) earlier this year was also part of PME’s evaluation.
A BlackRock spokesperson said the asset manager is a member of hundreds of international and national organisations relevant to clients, including those focused on investment risks and opportunities surrounding sustainability and the energy transition.
“For example, we are represented in the Principals Group of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and are a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).”
He continued: “Moreover, in 2024, we contributed to the development of the Net Zero Investment Framework (NZIF). More recently, we helped formulate nature-related guidelines for the ICMA Green Bond Principles, which were published during London Climate Action Week. In the Netherlands, we signed the Financial Sector Climate Commitment.”
In a general statement about PME’s departure, BlackRock stated that it “manages more sustainable investments on behalf of clients in the Netherlands and elsewhere than any other asset manager”.
“ Our clients see BlackRock as their partner in achieving their investment goals, including net-zero targets. In the Netherlands, where we manage more than €350bn, we continue to grow. BlackRock Netherlands looks back on a successful partnership with PME for more than ten years,” it added.
Record year
The BlackRock spokesperson noted that, besides PME and PFZW for equities, no other Dutch pension fund has terminated the firm this year.
“In addition, our EMEA business continues to grow: 2025 is a record year with €110bn in inflows in the first half, of which €26bn is in sustainable strategies. In the same way that we analyse all other investment risks that could be material, such as geopolitical risk, demographic risk, or interest rate risk when executing our clients’ investment mandates, our investment teams also assess climate risk as an investment risk. This remains unchanged.”
Moreover, PFZW remains a BlackRock client for the management of money market funds, the Aladdin risk management platform, and eFront, an alternative investment management system.
In September, PFZW stated that the primary reason for leaving BlackRock was the implementation of a new active equity strategy. The fund stated that BlackRock’s American nature played no role in its move, and it did not specify whether differences of opinion on sustainable investing influenced the decision.
This article was first published on Pensioen Pro, IPE’s Dutch sister publication
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