Stockholm-based pension fund AP1 announced this morning it is looking for managers to take on a large investment mandate for emerging markets small-cap equities.

The national pension fund – one of five buffer funds backing the main component of Sweden’s state pension – said the mandate currently had SEK6.2bn (€619m) of assets under management.

Majdi Chammas, external partnerships and innovation at AP1, told IPE that the management firms William Blair and Somerset Capital Management had been running the mandate since 2013 – the point when AP1 began investing in EM small-cap equities dedicated strategies.

Chammas said: “Part of our process is to regularly re-tender and challenge the existing solution.”

According to a list of the buffer fund’s holdings at the end of June, William Blair was managing SEK3.4bn of the total EM small-cap exposure, with Somerset Capital running the remaining SEK2.8bn.

The deadline for participating in the tender, by submitting AP1’s online questionnaire and supplements, is 30 November, according to the notice on the pension fund’s website.

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