SWEDEN – The initial tender period to find managers for the €577m Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) and Japan equity funds of the Third Swedish National Pension Fund, AP3, as put out in July, is now complete.

Lena Djurberg, investment officer for the AP3, says that while few details about the offer are yet available, the response was “good” and that AP3 is ready to move on to the next phase.

The next phase involves issuing a second questionnaire to those managers that initially qualified. The results of the second survey will lead to managers being invited to make presentations before final selection is made.

Djurberg says that AP3 will then make visits to managers early next year with a view to being up and running by next spring.