Confectionery company Mars has appointed Fred Nieuwland as CIO of its global pension plans, CIO has learned.
Nieuwland, who had been in charge of the international company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), is now at the helm of the firm’s global pension assets totalling $16 billion, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was instrumental in centralising the investments for seven pension plans attached to the company that were either grown or acquired with M&A targets, his profile said.
Evalinde Eelens, a long-time member of CIO’s Forty Under Forty, has replaced him as investment manager in EMEA, according to a source close to the company. She will report to Nieuwland, who is now based in the US after spending most of his career in the Netherlands.
Eelens is to join Mars on June 1 from PGGM, where she had been a senior investment strategist, advising investment managers on the impact of macro-economic developments. She joined the Dutch pensions manager when A&O Services—a pension for painters and decorators—was merged with its larger peer in 2013.
Mars’ European pension, which totalled more than €4 billion in 2013, has been active in direct real estate investment having bought several shopping malls in the UK.
Mars had not returned requests for comment by press time.
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