Christian Hyldahl, the former chief executive of ATP who left the Danish pensions giant late last year, has been announced as country head of the Nordic region at BlackRock.

Hyldahl will join the €5.3trn asset manager on 21 October, more than 10 months after he resigned from ATP as the DKK881bn (€118bn) statutory pension fund came under pressure in a complex case amid a public furore over dividend tax speculation.

Hyldahl said of his new appointment: “I have carefully considered my next step over the last 10 months and I am excited to join a firm with the global impact and outright industry leadership of BlackRock.

“I look forward to joining the BlackRock team and engaging with the firm’s clients across the Nordic region.”

In his job at BlackRock, which has around 40 staff in its Stockholm and Copenhagen offices, Hyldahl will partly be replacing Lena Lundholm-Micko, who stepped into a dual role of country head and head of BlackRock’s Nordic institutional business in July 2017.

She will continue in her role as head of the Nordic institutional business, the firm said, adding that she would now focus on BlackRock’s largest clients in these markets.

Rachel Lord, head of BlackRock’s EMEA business, said the company was delighted to welcome Hyldahl.

“He is highly respected by clients and other stakeholders in the Nordic region and across Europe,” she said. “He brings deep industry knowledge and expertise, and a particular interest in sustainable investing, which is a key priority for our clients.”

“We have an established client base and an attractive set of organic growth opportunities in the region over the next five years, and Christian’s appointment is an exciting moment for BlackRock’s clients and business,” Lord said.

Before joining ATP in January 2017, Hyldahl held several senior management positions at Nordea, and was both CIO and chief executive of Nordea Asset Management.

His career began in 1990 as a bond analyst at Unibank, a Danish bank that merged into Nordea in 2000.

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