The Danish engineers pension scheme DIP has just paid the first drawdown of its commitment to invest in Scandinavian unlisted companies through a limited partnership managed by Swedish-based Procuritas. DIP's investment director Steen Villemoes says the total commitment is for Skr45m ($5.8m) in the vehicle, which was just established this year.

It is focusing on small to medium-sized unlisted Scandinavian companies. The time period is for 10-12 years." The scheme has had Danish unlisted investments for some time, he points out.

The pension scheme, which has assets of Dkr1.6bn ($244m), of which 35% is in equities, has also invested in US private equity portfolios run by First Analysis Corporation in Chicago. "We have decided to invest in their third fund with a $10m commitment.""