SWEDEN - The 139 billion-crown (15.2 billion-euro) Swedish buffer fund Första AP-fonden says it has appointed six asset managers to manage around 300 million dollars in active US small-cap equities.

AP1 said an initial five managers would be funded in the second quarter: Dimensional Fund Advisers, IronBridge Capital Management, Martingale Asset Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and UBS Global Asset Management.

An agreement would be signed with State Street Global Advisors later, for “administrative reasons”.

“The mandates are a part of the fund's long-term strategy to increase the share of active management,” it said. Assets would be transferred to the new mandates from its internally managed global equity portfolio.

It added: “The managers have risk profiles and investment styles that complement each other well and will contribute to the risk diversification of the portfolio.”

The decision means that AP1 has now concluded its search for fund managers. AP1, which returned 16.5% in 2003, said in its annual report recently that it plans to research hedge funds.