Denmark’s LD Pensions (LD Fonde) has swapped its provider for engagement with investee companies to Federated Hermes EOS from Sustainalytics as part of an effort to improve the quality of its active ownership work.
The DKK46bn (€6.1bn) pensions manager, which runs two unusual pension funds, said that from the start of this year, Federated Hermes EOS was handling dialogues with the companies it invested in — though it added that Sustainalytics remained a supplier on the data side.
The Frederiksberg-based pensions firm – which runs the Cost-of-Living Allowance Fund (Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsmidler) and the Holiday Allowance Fund (Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler) – has undergone changes in its ESG department over the last few months, with Ditte Seidler Hansen now in charge of ESG, having started at the company in September.
Seidler Hansen, who was head of sustainable finance at PensionDanmark before, is now in charge of ESG at LD Pensions, with Amir Hassan, previously ESG analyst at the firm, having left in the first quarter of this year.
She told IPE: “The switch to Federated Hermes EOS further strengthens our work with ESG.
“We are tightening up the exclusion process and following up more systematically on milestones and progress in the dialogues,” she said, adding: “Overall, the ambition is to strengthen the quality of the work with active ownership.”
Seidler Hansen said she gained insight into Federated Hermes’ methods and priorities within corporate dialogues during a visit to the provider’s London offices in March, meeting the team behind the dialogue work and taking part in their client advisory council.
LD Pensions said that in 2025, it was in dialogue with 342 companies on topics to do with climate, social and management issues, corresponding to around one in five companies in the equity portfolio.
LD Pensions said it has outsourced most of its responsible behaviour dialogue work with companies for many years, because of the access it provides to specialised skills, and that this model also makes it possible to engage with far more businesses globally than could realistically be achieved internally alone.
“At the same time, we also engage directly and in collaboration with other institutional investors, for example through joint dialogue processes, investor letters and shareholder initiatives,” Seidler Hansen said.
“When more investors stand together, we represent a larger part of the ownership, and this can increase the impact of the dialogue with the companies,” she said.
