Pinsent Masons has hired former Travers Smith head of pensions, Susie Daykin, as pensions partner.

Daykin is Pinsent Masons’ second hire in the past six months from Travers Smith, after Dan Naylor joined in September 2025. Daykin worked at Travers Smith for 22 years. She is focused on trustee advisory and pensions risk transfer work, but advises on all aspects of pension law. Pinsent Masons head of pensions & long-term savings and partner, Stephen Scholefield, said the hire was a “significant strategic move” by the firm. “Susie is a recognised industry leader and will bring great expertise to the pensions team. She and Dan will play a key role in taking our pensions proposition to the next level and providing support to large clients and complex mandates,” he added.

Apollo has appointed Jesal Mistry as managing director and defined contribution (DC) lead for the UK.

In this newly created role, Mistry will be responsible for driving the growth of Apollo’s DC business in the UK and Europe, and helping to make Apollo’s investment capabilities and product suite available to the DC ecosystem, including trustees, consultants and platform providers. He will be based in London and work within the new markets business, which is led by partners and co-heads Neil Mehta and Jon Godsall. Mistry has more than two decades of experience in the industry and joins from Legal & General, where he held the role of head of DC investment.

Aviva Investors has made several appointments to the private markets investment specialists team.

Callum Fraser has been appointed as head of private markets equity. He joins from Barings and has also held roles at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). Joining Fraser, Kevin Au has been appointed as senior investment specialist to support Aviva Investors’ real estate efforts and joins from LGIM. Meanwhile, Neon Shariful has been appointed as investment director covering private debt. Shariful joins from HostPlus Superannuation SuperFund and is also a board member for AIF Future Leaders. In addition to the external hires, Aviva Investors has promoted Oliver Welch to investment director for private markets and appointed Yusuf Shaheen as a dedicated private markets investment specialist.

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