Mercer names NZ investment chief

Padraig Brown has been appointed chief investment officer at Mercer New Zealand.

The permanent appointment also sees Brown - who has been interim investment chief for three months -  promoted to partner.

Pacific chief investment officer Kylie Willment said Brown had been a leader in the Pacific investments team and a great partner for our clients for many years.

"In his previous role as head of real estate for Australia and New Zealand, he made a strong contribution to building high quality, high performing direct property funds that have outperformed their benchmarks over all periods," she said.

Earlier in his career,  Brown worked at Blackrock back as the global strategist for the real assets team.

Before that, he served as head of global research and strategy capital markets at JLL and also a derivatives specialist at Credit Suisse.

He then joined Mercer in Sydney in 2011 before returning to Auckland in 2018.

His appointment comes at a time of strong growth within the Mercer New Zealand Investments business, with three new hires in recent months and client demand for investment solutions rising amidst a challenging economic landscape.

"It's a huge honour to lead a team entrusted with managing the retirement savings of over 100,000 Kiwis and the assets of endowments and foundations which enhance millions of lives throughout New Zealand's communities," Brown said.

"We are in an extremely challenging period for investment markets with macro dynamics that we haven't experienced in recent decades, and we are ensuring that these risks are prudently managed."

After working in global investment markets for over 20 years, Brown said he was excited to partner with Mercer's New Zealand clients and lead a growing team with a diverse skill-set.

He noted that Mercer had established itself as a sustainable investment leader in New Zealand.