John Miller will retire as the head of Nuveen’s municipals business at age 56, ending a career that spanned almost three decades at the money management firm where he oversaw $188 billion of municipal bonds and managed the sector’s largest high yield fund.
His retirement was announced in tandem with a separate release stating that Nuveen had settled all litigation filed by Preston Hollow Community Capital, a rival municipal lender. The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
Miller, who joined Nuveen in 1996, cut a high profile in the municipal bond world, where he often invested in and spoke out on some of the more troubled issuers, ranging from Puerto Rico to Chicago. In April 2016, Miller testified before Congress on draft legislation to address Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis.
The Preston Hollow litigation, filed in New York and Delaware, alleged in part that Miller had tried to blackball Preston Hollow by threatening and intimidating broker dealers to cut off business with the Dallas-based firm.
Preston Hollow subpoenaed Wall Street’s biggest bond dealers including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to obtain their communications with Nuveen about the rival firm. In addition to the antitrust litigation, Preston Hollow also sought damages in Delaware for defamation, a claim that was dismissed and then appealed in 2022.
Nuveen will become a “significant minority investor” in Preston Hollow through an investment that is designed to advance the lender’s strategy of directly sourcing and structuring municipal financings, according to the latter release.
Dan Close, who has been running Nuveen’s taxable muni business, will succeed Miller as the head of its entire municipal finance team, according to a press release. The firm will also bolster the portfolio management team for 10 of its 60 muni-bond funds that Miller helped manage, including Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond, which currently has about $18.6 billion in assets.
Nuveen is a unit of TIAA, that oversees more than $1 trillion in assets.
Close, 47, began his investment career in 1998. He has extensive portfolio management experience in both tax-exempt high-yield and investment-grade municipals, according to Nuveen’s release. Close will manage the Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond Fund with Stephen Candido.
Miller will continue to serve as a portfolio manager until June 1 on the 10 funds cited in Nuveen’s release, including the high-yield muni fund and strategic muni opportunities fund. The firm didn’t provide any information on Miller’s future plans.
“Dan’s contributions have been crucial to the advancement of Nuveen’s municipals business,” William Huffman, the president of Nuveen Equities and Fixed Income, said in the release on the managerial changes. “We’re also celebrating John’s incredibly successful career.”
--With assistance from Martin Z. Braun and Danielle Moran.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.