SWEDEN - The fourth buffer fund Fjärde AP-fonden is tendering for management of €1.5bn in Japanese and Pacific equities.

The €22.2bn fund intends to select managers for both mandates separately or for a combination of the two.

One manager will be selected for index and enhanced index investment and two to three active managers per geographic area.

As contracts for the incumbent managers are coming to an end of a four-year contract, AP4 wants to "broaden the number of managers and style of managers during this procurement", AP4's external mandates chief Tobias Fransson told IPE.

He confirmed incumbent managers will be allowed to re-tender.
 
Singapore-based APS Asset Management and London-based Capital Asset Management currently sharr a SEK5bn (€500m) Pacific ex Japan mandate.

Edinburgh-based Martin Currie also manages a SEK7.6bn Japan mandate.

All are benchmarked against the relevant MSCI indices.

All of these managers underperformed their indices last year returning 8.1% which was 5.5 percentage points less than the index, according to AP4's annual report.

Deadline for applications is August 9. The contact e-mail is pacific@ap4.se. The fund will publish frequently-asked questions on its homepage www.ap4.se .