Deals & People April 11, 2023

Nuveen Muni Head Steps Down on Heels of Legal Settlement

The firm said 30-year veteran John Miller will be replaced by current taxable muni lead Daniel Close.

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Nuveen’s head of municipal investing, John Miller, will retire after a 30-year career building the division’s assets under management to $188 billion, TIAA’s investment arm announced Monday.

The firm noted on the same day that it had reached a settlement with Preston Hollow Community Capital LLC, which alleged in a 2020 complaint that Miller had used “threats and lies” to damage Preston Hollow’s business relationships. The firms did not disclose the terms of the settlement, but they announced that Nuveen will be a “significant minority investor” in Preston Hollow.

Miller, who joined Nuveen LLC in 1996, began leading the municipal investment team in 2007, including its $17.7 billion high-yield municipal bond fund, which makes bets on the riskiest government debt. He will continue to work as a portfolio manager until his retirement on June 1, according to the firm.

“I am deeply grateful for my years at Nuveen and retire with a profound sense of pride in all that our dedicated and extremely talented team accomplished,” Miller said in a statement.

Miller is being replaced as head of municipal investing by Daniel Close, a portfolio manager who has been running Nuveen’s taxable municipals business. Close, who began his investment career in 1998, will oversee a group of 80 investment professionals and will be a manager on funds such as the high-yield municipal bond fund. Stephen Candido has joined Close in managing that fund, according to the company’s website.

The transition will include the firm leveraging its “deep bench of senior executives” to move management responsibility for 10 of the firm’s more than 60 municipal bond funds, according to the announcement. Nuveen will make no changes to its separately managed accounts, investment-grade municipals or taxable municipals businesses.  

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The settlement with Preston Hollow comes after four years of legal battles stemming from a 2020 complaint alleging Miller had called broker/dealers such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to caution them against pitching Preston Hollow’s municipal bond offerings. In the complaint, Preston Hollow positioned itself as a “burgeoning contender in the high-yield municipal bond market” that Miller was seeking to “eliminate.”

“Nuveen’s conduct constituted tortious interference with Preston Hollow’s business relations with six different broker-dealers … and caused actual economic harm with respect to Preston Hollow’s relationship with each of those broker-dealers,” the firm alleged.

A Delaware Court of Chancery judge ruled that Nuveen illegally interfered with Preston Hollow’s business but concluded that damages were “too speculative to be determined.” Preston Hollow then sought damages in a separate case in Delaware, a claim that was dismissed, and appealed in 2022. It also sought further recourse through antitrust litigation filed in a federal court in Manhattan.

According to Monday’s announcement Monday, the settlement resolves all outstanding litigation claims against Nuveen and Miller. Nuveen’s investment in the firm will go toward funding Preston Hollow’s strategy of “direct sourcing and structuring of financings to help deliver meaningful and measurable social impact to borrowers and their respective communities,” according to the announcement.

“It is a testament to both organizations that Preston Hollow and Nuveen kept the lines of communication open throughout the litigation, and we’re pleased to have reached a constructive resolution that supports our shared interests and the broader municipal market,” Jim Thompson, Preston Hollow chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Data & Research April 11, 2023

Most U.S. Workers Expect to Fall Short of $1.1 Million Retirement Savings Goal

64% of Millennials and 62% of workers aged 45 and older said their workplace retirement plan will not reach the level they hope for.

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Most working Americans worry a workplace retirement plan will not grow to the level they hoped to achieve, as expressed by 64% of Millennials and 62% of workers 45 and older.

The Schroders 2023 U.S. Retirement Survey surveyed 2,000 U.S. investors nationwide. Participants were ages 27 to 79 with a median household income of $75,000. Conducted by 8 Acre Perspective from February 13 to March 3, the research examined the retirement readiness of American workers.

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Respondents ages 45 and older believed, on average, $1.1 million was the amount needed to retire comfortably. However, only 21% said they foresee saving at least $1 million. More than half (59%) said they expect to have less than $500,000, while 34% expect to save less than $250,000.

Among those 45 and older, 69% worried about money an average of 1.6 hours per day, which is 11 hours per week and the equivalent of 24 full days per year.

“The fact that, once again, so few Americans nearing retirement are confident they have enough money speaks volumes about the work we still need to do to make it easier for American workers to reach retirement security,” said Deb Boyden, head of U.S. defined contribution at Schroders, in the report accompanying the study.

Millennials reported $1.3 million as the amount it will take to achieve a comfortable retirement. Only 29% predict they will save at least $1 million, 49% expect to save less than $500,000 and 27% expect to save less than $250,000.

Millennials expressed more daily stress about money than older workers. Among Millennials, 85% worried about money an average of 1.9 hours per day, 13 hours per week and 28 full days per year.

Millennials were joined by older workers in their concern: 53% of workers 45 and up and 64% of millennials report concern that financial stress would negatively affect their overall health.

Older workers and Millennials had similar asset allocation of their retirement investments in 2022, placing the most investments in equities and cash. Both age groups put 31% of investment towards equities, while 29% of older workers and 33% of Millennials put their investments in cash.

Stock market volatility continues to be a concern, as 66% of older workers and 62% of working Millennials said they placed their investments in cash because they feared losing too much money if the stock market went down.

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