Merger activity between Iceland’s pension funds heated up last year with several funds either starting talks on joining forces or receiving approval for link-ups from their memberships. The excitement was topped in the new year with the announcement that the country’s second-biggest pension fund, the Pension Fund of Commerce, LV, had entered talks with Birta, the number four pension fund, over a potential merger.
If they did combine, the resulting pension fund would be Iceland’s largest – managing significantly more assets than does the current number one LSR.
The boards of Birta and LV said they were looking into whether a merger would bolster their operations by “increased operating efficiency, stronger infrastructure and improved service to fund members”.
IPE recently interviewed LV’s CIO Arne Vagn Olsen about a major portfolio overhaul at the ISK1.46trn (€10bn) pension fund, which has included switching LV’s entire foreign-listed equities exposure from pooled funds to segregated managed accounts.
In Denmark, statutory pension fund ATP – no longer the country’s largest since rising interest rates shrank the value of its largely bond-based assets in 2022 – was pleased last week to present the highest annual return it has produced on its investment portfolio for four years.
That gain was an impressive-sounding 19.5%, but since ATP’s business model differs significantly from most Danish pension funds, the result is hard to compare with peers.
According to the Danish pensions industry standard N1 measure – which gauges annual return relative to pension provisions – ATP’s 2025 return was a 3.5% loss, according to its annual report.
In Norway, the new expert panel the government set up last year to advise it on managing the sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), came out with a number of recommendations which – if implemented – could make a big difference to the NOK20.8trn (€1.8trn) fund’s asset mix.
The GPFG’s heavy technology-sector weightings as well as criteria for including sovereign bonds should be reconsidered, according to the report from the three-strong Norwegian-Swedish expert team.
Items to note:
- NBIM, manager of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, has announced it is hosting an investment conference on 28 April in Oslo where “world-leading CEOs will gather”, including Man Group CEO Robyn Grew, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Daimler Truck Holding president and CEO Karin Rådström.
- Newly-merged Icelandic pension fund Almenni-Lífsverk is looking for a new name and is appealing to the public for ideas. It has opened a naming competition online and is offering an ISK100,000 gift voucher to the creator of the winning proposal.
Rachel Fixsen
Nordic Correspondent
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