SWEDEN – Tredje AP-fonden, the SEK175.8bn (€18.9bn) Third National Pension Fund or AP3, has invested £20m (€30m) into an infrastructure fund run by Henderson Global Investors.

It said it has diversified its portfolio by investing in the Henderson PFI Secondary Fund, which invests in infrastructure assets such as hospitals, schools and railways.

AP3 is participating in the fund’s third closing and the Henderson PFI Secondary Fund is expected to have one further closing at which it is expected to grow to about £300m. This would mean the scheme would have just over 6% of the fund’s assets.

The fund said last month that it planned more diversity in its portfolio – including areas such as emerging markets, international real estate and infrastructure.

Its alternative investments previously consisted solely of private equity and real estate.

And it said its alternative investments would in 2005/2006 be extended to investments in small listed research companies in the pharmaceuticals sector.

In traditional investments, the current investment programme will be supplemented by investments in emerging markets.

“The investments in infrastructure assets suit us well as a pension fund because they are long-term and offer relatively high and stable returns at a low level of risk,” said head of alternatives Bengt Hellström.

“This is beneficial for the long-term performance and risk diversification of our pension assets. The fact that this particular fund purchases its assets in the secondary market also eliminates the ‘construction risk’.”