DENMARK - ATP, Denmark's largest pension fund, saw its equity portfolio return 22% over the last year, while losing almost four-fifths of funds set aside for longevity increases due to its members' increasing life expectancy.
The scheme last year set aside DKK23bn (€3bn) to compensate for increasing life expectancy under a new model, which compares life expectancy trends across 18 OECD.
However, at the end of December, only DKK5bn of the additional funding remained, a reduction of DKK18bn.
Despite this, all five of its asset classes saw positive returns, ranging from 22% from the stock market to 3.5% growth seen by its real estate portfolio.
Lars Rohde, ATP's chief executive, said the results were very satisfactory, adding that it increased chances it would be able to increase pensions for both current and future employees in a few years.
In all, fund assets grew by 6.8% to DKK476bn, with commodities returning 6.7%, while bonds returned 4.4%.
ATP also praised its hedging activities, saying they allowed it to live up to its pension liabilities, despite fluctuations in interest rates.
In spite of market instability and increased life expectancy, the scheme still retained reserves of DKK70bn.
Last month, PensionDanmark and ATP jointly purchased three department store buildings, with PensionDanmark's managing director Torben Möger Pedersen indicating that it would be the first of many joint deals in property and infrastructure.
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