DENMARK - The DKK20bn (€2.7bn) Danish pension fund Lærernes Pension (Teachers' Pension and Life) has appointed PanAgora Asset Management for $50m (€36.4m) in US mid-cap equities.

From the beginning of October PanAgora will sub-advise the Copenhagen fund's US mid-cap equity portfolio, the fund said.
 
Anders Bertramsen, portfolio manager at the fund, explained: "We were just looking for a manager that could add alpha in a less efficient market and PanAgora came up as one of the really good manager that has shown consistent performance."
 
The Boston-based firm has a "unique" approach to quantitative management, according to Bertramsen. "It seems that they have taken a step further, due to the fact that they have created stock specific weights instead of sector weights."
 
The Danish pension market is quite big and very much on the forefront of what is happening, says Bertramsen.
 
"We are very open to selecting foreign managers and to selecting less household named managers. We look beyond the typical managers to find the extra alpha and quality," he said.
 
However, the fund says it is not planning to tender any more mandates in the near future.
 
Lærernes tendered the mandate in May on IPE-Quest.