The E13.6bn second Swedish national pension fund, AP2, has appointed what it calls a ‘network’ of 13 external investment managers in 14 separate equity sectors – though no agreements about size of mandates has yet been reached.
The fund’s chief investment officer Petter Odhnoff says the appointment of the managers is an initial stage in a process of creating a network of managers.
Nothing has been finalised, though he foresees AP2 having five to 10 active mandates up and running within six months.
“One reason for choosing to work with a number of external investment managers is to secure the best expertise for a given market (whether in regional or sector terms), regardless of where they are based,” Odhnoff said. “The other reason is diversified risk taking.”
Selection criteria included organisation and staff professionalism, qualitative research, style and interaction with AP2 in terms of sharing experience and ideas. Other criteria were past performance, existing client relationships, fees, risk management and compliance.
The managers will oversee the 60% of AP2 assets that are handled externally.
The new managers are: Alliance Bernstein, Bankinvest, Citigroup, Credit Agricole, Deutsche AM, Dresdner RCM, Franklin Templeton, Govett Investment, Goldman Sachs, Martin Currie, Scottish Widows, Singer & Friedlander and UBS.