Finland’s Elo is stepping up the pace of its investment in domestic unlisted growth companies, announcing a plan to direct €100m into the portfolio segment in the first half of this year — the same volume it invested there in the whole of 2025.
Announcing its results for January to March, Carl Pettersson, chief executive officer of the €34.3bn mutual pensions insurance company, said: “Last year, we invested more than €100m both directly in growth companies such as IQM and ReOrbit, and especially in domestic private equity funds.”
“We will accelerate this year, and already in the first half of the year we will invest another €100m in growth,” he said in yesterday’s announcement.
Finland’s pension sector has come under political pressure recently to help domestic economic growth by investing locally. Pensions lobby TELA has countered such appeals by saying its members must keep the pension system sustainable.
Meanwhile, figures from Finnish pension fund annual reports reveal shrinking allocations to the domestic market over the last few years.
Elo said yesterday that for more than 10 years, it had been “one of the most active investors in the Finnish growth market”, having invested in more than 470 growth companies during its history.
Combined investments and open commitments in Finnish growth companies and funds were approaching €1bn this year, said the Espoo-headquartered pensions insurer — the third-largest of four in Finland’s earnings-related pension system.
“Our investment in the Finnish growth field has been profitable over the past ten years, as the return on these investments has been about 14% per year,” Pettersson said, adding: “Therefore, we see that our basic task of investing pension assets in a profitable and secure manner has also been fulfilled in Finnish growth investments”.
He said Finland should now “invest in creating a growth-oriented and positive atmosphere”.
In financial results, Elo posted a 0.2% return for the first quarter, with equities – its largest allocation at 55.3% of the portfolio – turning in a 0.2% loss, outweighed by a 0.3% gain for its 23.1% allocation to fixed income, and a 1.1% gain for real estate, with property making up 11.1% of overall assets.
