The Finnish Cultural Foundation, which has assets of around €1.1bn, is outsourcing its private equity and alternatives investment management to Finnish firm eQ Asset Management.

The institutional investor has signed a long-term agreement covering outsourcing of both existing and future investments within private equity and other alternative investments.

The foundation’s CIO Ralf Sunell said: “We have been pleased with the return of our private equity portfolio, and private equity will continue to play a central role in our asset allocation.”

However, managing those investments demand a high level of administrative resources compared with other asset classes, including monitoring and reporting systems. 

“By outsourcing the management of new investments and portfolio administration to eQ Asset Management, we achieve cost-effectiveness, excellent reporting and investment service tailored to our needs,” Sunell said. 

Staffan Jåfs, head of private equity at eQ Asset Management, said: “The Finnish Cultural Foundation is one of the largest institutional investors in Finland, and we are very pleased to have been appointed as their partner in building the private equity programme.”

The Finnish Cultural Foundation is a private trust that gives grants to promote art, science and other intellectual and cultural activities in Finland.

Neither party was available to say how much the foundation’s private equity and alternative investments are worth.