BLK BlackRock Inc

Wiseman will lead continuing efforts to revamp the firm's stock-picking unit

By Sarah Krouse and Ben Dummett 

BlackRock Inc. is adding the chief of Canada's largest pension plan to its ranks of top leaders.

Mark Wiseman will join the world's largest money manager in September as head of global active equity, charged with leading a continuing turnaround of its stock-picking unit. He will also become chairman of the firm's global investment committee -- a subunit of its executive committee -- and chairman of its alternatives business, BlackRock said Thursday.

Mr. Wiseman has worked closely with BlackRock chief Laurence Fink in recent years on an initiative called Focusing Capital on the Long Term. That effort, backed by a number of large investors, promotes corporate governance and strategies focused on the long-term over initiatives aimed at boosting short-term earnings and stock-price gains.

The appointment adds muscle to BlackRock's alternatives business, an area it has tried to grow in recent years, and marks the latest step in a yearslong effort by BlackRock to improve performance in its actively managed equity funds.

Earlier this year, the $4.7 trillion asset manager combined its traditional and quantitative equity funds into one group that it said in January would be managed by executives Chris Jones, Nigel Bolton, Raffaele Savi and Jeff Shen. Messrs. Bolton, Savi and Shen will now become co-chief investment officers of global active equity at the firm, while Mr. Jones is leaving "to pursue other opportunities," a spokesman said.

Mr. Wiseman, 46 years old, was named president and chief executive of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2012 after joining the pension plan in 2005. The 278.9 billion Canadian dollar (about $212.6 billion) fund invests in foreign and domestic stocks, bonds, real estate and infrastructure. Its assets increased by more than C$100 billion with Mr. Wiseman at the helm.

The CPPIB executive's departure comes as the Canadian fund posted a 3.4% net investment gain for the fiscal year ended March 31, outperforming a 1% decline in the fund's internal benchmark. Canada's pension funds measure themselves against internal benchmarks because of their widespread exposure to public and private holdings.

The performance against the benchmark "was by far the best ... the fund has ever had," Mr. Wiseman said Thursday.

CPPIB and Canada's other large pension funds have built reputations as being some of the biggest global investors, in part by establishing offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America for high-profile deals. The pension funds use their foreign locations to identify local partners and expertise to give them an edge in identifying potential investments.

About 81% of CPPIB's assets are invested outside Canada. That includes its $12 billion acquisition last year of General Electric Co.'s private-equity lending unit and its deal last month to acquire a 40% stake in the agricultural business of commodities giant Glencore PLC.

During Mr. Wiseman's tenure as chief executive, CPPIB established offices in New York, Brazil and India. It also has locations in Toronto, where the fund is based, and in Hong Kong, London and Luxembourg.

"CPPIB's international strategy bloomed under Mark Wiseman's leadership, " Heather Munroe-Blum, the fund's chairwoman, said in a release.

Mr. Wiseman will work in New York and travel frequently, returning to Toronto on the weekends. He will report to President Robert Kapito.

The chairman post for BlackRock's investment committee has rotated among various members of the firm's executive committee in the past, but Mr. Wiseman will now be its permanent leader.

Mr. Fink said in a statement that Mr. Wiseman had "deep experience in both public and private capital markets globally -- having worked with and driven strong investment results for some of the biggest and most sophisticated pools of investment capital in the world."

Mr. Wiseman will leave the Canadian fund in June, but he will remain as a senior adviser to the board until early September. Mark Machin, currently senior managing director and head of CPPIB's international operations, takes over as chief executive in June. He joined the fund in 2012 after a 20-year career at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com and Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 20, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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