PKA’s chief investment officer for the last 25 years, Michael Nellemann Pedersen, is retiring next month, when his deputy, Mads Skaaning, will take over from him, it was announced this morning.
The Danish pensions firm, PKA, which manages around DKK500bn (€67bn) for four Danish labour-market pension funds, said in a statement that Skaaning — who has been deputy CIO since 2018 — already has the necessary approval from the Danish FSA as a “fit & proper” person for the CIO role, and will take up the new job on 28 April.
Jon Johnsen, PKA’s chief executive officer, said Nellemann Pedersen had been “a crucial driving force” for the last 25 years in creating strong pensions for PKA’s pension fund members.
“Because of his efforts, PKA is today one of Denmark’s largest institutional investors, not only delivering returns that have been among the industry’s highest, but also having an internationally recognised strong and robust investment structure that creates the conditions for continued high returns — and therefore high pensions,” he said.
Nellemann Pedersen, who has worked at PKA for 36 years altogether, will now focus on his retirement as well as board work, the CEO said.
Meanwhile, Johnsen said that Skaaning, who had 20 years of investment experience having worked at both SEB Pension and Danske Capital before coming to PKA in 2017, was just the right person to head up PKA’s investments in the future and contribute to the Hellerup-based firm’s continued development.
“He has been a key contributor to the last nearly 10 years of development within investment operations, and has played an important role in the results we’ve created at PKA,” Johnsen said, adding that Skaaning was also a “very well-liked leader” with good credentials and a large network”.
Skaaning himself said he looked forward “to continuing the strong, long-term investment strategy that creates value for all our members.”
