DMGT Pension Schemes

DMGT Pension Schemes

The DMGT Pension Schemes trace their origins to 1896, making them one of the oldest private-sector pension arrangements in British media. Sponsored by the Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) Group, the schemes — principally the Harmsworth Pension Scheme and the DMGT AVC Plan — serve as the retirement vehicle for the workforce behind titles such as the Daily Mail and MailOnline. The controlling shareholder, Rothermere Continuation Limited, and Viscount Rothermere remain the ultimate stakeholders. The portfolio deploys a liability-driven investment framework that fully hedges inflation and interest-rate exposure via a collateralised mix of gilt repurchase agreements and swap contracts. On the growth side, the schemes commit to private infrastructure through fund partnerships — named managers include Ancala Partners, Equitix, Dalmore Capital, EQT Infrastructure II, and BlackRock Private Infrastructure II. The schemes also held a direct 2.6% minority stake in the John Laing Infrastructure Fund, a UK-listed infrastructure vehicle. Real estate forms a second pillar: the freehold on Northcliffe House, DMGT's London headquarters at 9 Derry Street, sits in the pension fund and is leased back to the sponsor, alongside other commercial property assets that generate long-dated rental income in sterling. Total assets stood at approximately £3.1 billion as of the most recent Altss estimate, with a target allocation of 6% to private equity. The schemes operate through trustee entities — Northcliffe Trustees Limited for the Harmsworth Pension Scheme and DMGT Pension Trustees Limited for the senior executives' fund. Northern Trust has served as custodian since 2011, while Crowe LLP succeeded as auditor in 2023. In September 2021, the schemes appointed J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Credit Suisse as financial advisors, signalling an ongoing review of investment and liability-management strategies. What distinguishes the DMGT Schemes is their maturity-matched asset-liability architecture: they own the bricks-and-mortar of their sponsor's business while simultaneously hedging every basis point of rate and inflation risk through LDI. Few UK corporate pensions combine direct real estate, a concentrated private-infrastructure book, and full liability hedging under a single governance roof — a structure that turns a publisher's pension fund into a self-contained fiduciary institution.