SWEDEN- Sweden’s Skr130bn (e14.3bn) AP4 fund has announced the tendering of Asia Pacific-ex Japan and Japanese equity mandates worth up to a total of $600m (e682m). The fund is to appoint several firms to oversee the mandates, deadline for applications is May 11th and appointments should be announced some time in November.

AP4, like the other national AP funds, has appointed external managers as it extends its investment horizons and changes its asset allocation. When the fund was created at the end of 2000, it had a 30/70 equity/fixed income split. But during 2001 this changed to 63% in equities, 34% in fixed income and 3% in real estate.

Chief executive Thomas Halvorsen attributed underperformance of 0.5% in 2001 to this major restructuring. One of the most dramatic changes at AP4 has been in its equity strategy. At the beginning of last year it had 2.7% of the fund in global equities, a figure that had risen more than fourteen-fold to 39% within twelve months.

The funds are still obliged to invest at least 30% in fixed income, no more than 40% in international investments while outsourcing a minimum of 10% to external managers.




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