DENMARK - Lars Holm-Pedersen, manager for external mandates at Danish statutory pension provision fund ATP, has left to join Danske Bank.

The DKK263bn (€35.3bn) fund confirmed to IPE that Holm-Pedersen left yesterday and has not yet been replaced. A spokesman for the fund said it was too early to say whether Holm-Pedersen‘s post would be filled by an internal or external appointee.

The spokesman also declined to say whether the departure spelt a change in the fund’s external management policy. “He has left to pursue new things, it is nothing dramatic,” the spokesman said.

In his new capacity Holm-Pedersen will be head of fund rating and selection at Danske.

ATP said in a quarterly report for the third quarter 2004 that total market return on investments amounted to DKK 28.7 before taxes, a 11.1% increase. All asset classes produced “positive returns.”

According to ‘International Pension Funds and their Advisors’, ATP’s external managers include: Citigroup, PIMCO, Morgan Stanley, Hermes, Danske, Martin Currie, Capital International, Mellon, Schroders and F&C.