A bigger splash: Dutch hospitality pension fund terminates BlackRock equity mandate

Recreatie, which manages some £1.1bn in assets for employees in the Dutch hospitality and recreation industry, has appointed Cardano as new manager for its €426m equity portfolio. 

The decision has been taken due to a combination of cost efficiency measures and ESG concerns, according to an article in Dutch trade title Pensioen Pro. Recreatie had appointed AF Advisors to score a range of managers on 12 criteria, which included costs as well as ESG considerations, with Cardano ultimately coming out strongest.

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A spokesperson for BlackRock acknowledged the move, stating that the manager respected the fund's decision and remained proud to manage more than €350bn on behalf of Dutch clients. 

Over the past two years, BlackRock and other large US managers have withdrawn from the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and CA100+ as they faced sustained pushback for their climate stance in the US. However, the manager continues to offer climate-tilted funds to asset owners. 

ESG crossfires

BlackRock's departure from climate coalitions has prompted moves from other asset owners to review their mandates with large US managers. PME, PFZW, People's Pension and Akademiker are among the list of asset owners who recently terminated mandates with large US managers, citing climate stewardship concerns. 

In 2024, the £4bn UK master trust Now:Pensions parted ways with BlackRock and Legal & General and appointed Cardano to manage its assets. However, this came after the master trust was acquired by Cardano in 2019. 

Portfolio overhaul

The Recreatie pension fund has invested some €426m in equities and €677.7m in fixed income and liability hedging assets, with Cardano and BlackRock previously having acted as its managers, according to its latest reports and accounts. 

It did not disclose whether the allocations were held in segregated mandates or pooled funds, but a €400m mandate would have been relatively small in the Dutch institutional market context, limiting options to customise climate and stewardship requirements. 

The decision comes two years after Recreatie's board opted to tighten its responsible investment stance, moving the fund towards an SFDR Article 8 status. This is not uncommon in the Netherlands, where most of the country's largest pension funds have Article 8 status under SFDR. 

CDC switch 

The Dutch pensions industry has undergone a significant process of reform, whereby defined benefit funds were being converted into collective defined contribution funds. This meant that funds like Recreatie moved from offering members a guaranteed fixed income to lifecycle-based investment allocations. 

While the pensions reform is not directly linked to the change in manager lineup, Recreatie expects to increase its allocation to equities as it switches towards CDC.

Recreatie's approach to liability matching had a negative impact on investment returns, with the liability matching portfolio delivering a negative return of -34%. This brought total investment returns in 2025 to -8.5%, despite strong equity market performance. At the same time, due to current high interest rates, the fund continues to report a strong funding level of more than 131%.