The Danish pension fund LD has been renamed LD Fonde (in English, LD Pensions). The name change follows the decision by the government to establish a new fund called Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler, which means that the pension fund from 2020 will manage two separate funds. Its current portfolio has DKK 39 billion in assets while the new fund is expected to have a balance of around DKK 100 billion. Due to the different nature of the funds, they will be managed along separate investment strategies with the new fund likely to have a higher risk-taking ability.
In the wake of the added responsibilities, LD Fonde is currently looking to add to its investment team by hiring an analyst to, among other things, take part in the investment analysis process and the cross-asset class manager selection process. The investment department is headed up by its chief financial officer Charlotte Mark and has an additional three members of staff: chief investment officer Claus Buchwald Christjansen, head of equities Kristoffer Fabricius Birch and head of investment analysis Michael Steen.
AMF launches corporate bond fund
The Swedish pension company AMF has launched a new actively managed corporate bond fund with a higher risk profile than the incumbent ones in its offering. The AMF Corporate Bond Fund is managed by Johan Moeschlin, who has previously been responsible for the pension company’s mutual fund offering.
“It’s always healthy to have a good risk spread in savings. If you have a lot of shares and some interest rate exposure, it may be wise to add a corporate bond fund with short-term interest rate. It’s a way to get a good return without being exposed to any major interest rate risk and it helps to get a corporate impact on interest rate investments,” Johan Moeschlin, managing director at AMF Fonder, said.
The new fund has an annual fee of 0.10 per cent.
Nordic investor consortium sells Folksam’s non-life insurance business to Fennia
The Swedish Folksam ömsesidig sakförsäkring (Folksam Sak) along with the Finnish Aktia Bank and pension company Veritas has sold their majority shares in the Swedish Folksam’s non-life insurance business to the Finnish insurer Fennia. Folksam Sak, which held a 75 per cent majority in the non-life insurance business, increased its share in the company in 2015 when it bought a 24 per cent share from Aktia Bank. However, Aktia Bank remained as one of the majority owners with a 10 per cent share in the company together with Veritas, that owned 15 per cent.
“This is a good deal for our non-life insurance customers and part of the rendering of our structure with a clear focus on the Swedish business. Fennia will be a good long-term owner of the Finnish operations,” said Jens Henriksson, managing director of Folksam Group.
SEB Corporate Finance advised Folksam in the SEK 800 million (EUR 76.5 million) deal.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management launches its first active ETF’s
The asset management giant J.P. Morgan has announced it will be launching three fully transparent active equity ETFs with concurrent listings on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Deutsche Boerse Xetra and Borsa Italiana. The offering will include JPM Europe Research Enhanced Index Equity (ESG) UCITS ETF, JPM US Research Enhanced Index Equity (ESG) UCITS ETF and JPM Global Research Enhanced Index Equity (ESG) UCITS ETF.
JREE will be benchmarked against the MSCI Europe Index. JREU will be benchmarked against the S&P 500 Index and JREG will be benchmarked against the MSCI World Index. All three ETFs will have a total expense ratio of 25 basis points.
All three ETFs will be ESG compliant and actively exclude companies involved in certain sectors, like controversial weapons and tobacco.
“These ETFs seek to incorporate the best of both active and passive management and can play a versatile role in portfolios, including as a cost-effective core exposure to certain equity markets or as an asset allocation tool,” said Bryon Lake, head of international ETFs at the firm. He added that: “Since launching our first European ETFs, a year ago this November, we now offer solutions across equities, fixed income and alternatives. We look forward to continuing to build out our range over the coming years with active, strategic beta and passive investment strategies which leverage the best of JPMAM’s investment capabilities.”
Our annual ETF supplement will be out later this month together with the issue #5 of Nordic Fund Selection Journal.
Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global offloads logistic properties
The Norwegian oil fund has disposed of a logistics portfolio it had acquired together with Prologis. The portfolio consisted of 37 logistics properties located in Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, New Jersey, South Florida, France, Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands. The buyer is real estate company Mapletree. The deal brought the fund altogether USD 182.6 million (EUR 159 million) for its 45 per cent stake in the US based properties and EUR 90.2 million for its 50 per cent share in the European properties.
Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk business become Refinitiv
Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk business has completed the strategic partnership transaction with private equity funds managed by Blackstone and will now on be known as Refinitiv. The deal, which was announced early this year, saw Thomson Reuters selling a 55 per cent interest in the Financial & Risk business while retaining a 45 per cent share. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and an affiliate of GIC bought stakes in the company alongside Blackstone.
Refinitiv is one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, serving over 40,000 institutions in over 150 countries.
Nordic research for all risk premia enthusiasts
Kari Vatanen, head of cross assets and allocation at Varma visited Miami, Florida this week to present his research paper “A Framework for Risk Premia Investing” co-written with Dr. Antti Suhonen from Aalto University School of Business.
You can download the paper here.
Next week FBNW will publish an interview with Kari Vatanen where he tells more about his career so far and his free time hobby as a conductor of a brass band.
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Magny Øvrebø is the new CEO of Holberg Fondsforvaltning
The Norwegian fund company Holberg Fondsforvaltning has appointed Magny Øvrebø as its new CEO. She joins the company from the Norwegian branch of Nordea Liv where she worked as CFO and investment director. She will be stepping in her new role in January next year.
<strong>LD becomes LD Fonde
The Danish pension fund LD has been renamed LD Fonde (in English, LD Pensions). The name change follows the decision by the government to establish a new fund called Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler, which means that the pension fund from 2020 will manage two separate funds. Its current portfolio has DKK 39 billion in assets while the new fund is expected to have a balance of around DKK 100 billion. Due to the different nature of the funds, they will be managed along separate investment strategies with the new fund likely to have a higher risk-taking ability. In the wake of theIf you’re new to Tell Media Group, create an account.
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