SWEDEN – Fjarde AP-Fonden, the 13.4 billion euro Swedish state pension fund, has named three managers for Japan and Asia-Pacific equities mandates – Martin Currie, Capital and APS.

The fund said in a news release that it has awarded Martin Currie Investment Management with a 48 billion yen (384.1 billion euro) Japanese equities mandate.

It has awarded mandates for non-Japanese Pacific stocks to Capital Investment international and APS Asset Management Private, who will initially receive 80 million dollars each.

“Fjarde AP-Fonden has thereby concluded the search for external investment managers, which was announced in the beginning of April 2002,” the fund said. It added that its main selection criteria include investment process, ability to generate performance, experience organisation and resources and fees.”

“The announced mandates are the first active mandates outsourced to external investment managers and are a part of the overall portfolio optimisation,” said Bjorn Linder, the fund’s chief investment officer.

The fund is one of four “buffer funds” for Sweden’s state pension scheme.

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