Danish labour-market pension fund Industriens Pension reported an 8.2% investment return for January to June, saying both unlisted and listed stocks had produced high returns in the period, while private equity stood out with a 25% return.

In its interim results statement published this morning, the pension fund for industrial workers said that in absolute terms, the 8.2% investment return on its total portfolio across all age groups had been DKK16.3bn (€2.2bn) in the first half of the year, and that total investment assets had risen to DKK216bn.

Laila Mortensen, the labour-market pension fund’s chief executive officer, said: “The best-performing asset class has been private equity, where American venture funds in particular have really delivered great returns.”

At the same time, she said, listed shares across a broad spectrum had been boosted by the prospect of good growth in both Europe and the US.

Mortensen said that effective vaccine rollouts in Europe and the US, and the reopening of communities had created good growth prospects, which in turn has lifted market sentiment and the valuation of both listed and unlisted assets.

However, big swathes of the bond market had a difficult half-year, as expectations of rising inflation led to rising interest rates, the Copenhagen-based pension fund said.

As examples of how the savings of different scheme member groups had fared in the six-month period, the pension fund said people with 20 years before retirement received a 12.3% return while those with five years left to go had a return of 7.8%.

Industriens Pension said that over the past 10 years it had achieved an average annual return of 8.1% for the total portfolio across all age groups.

Looking at its three largest asset class allocations, the pension fund made a loss of 2.6% on nominal gilt-edged bonds in the first half, a 13.0% gain on foreign listed equities and a 25.1% return on private equity.

It had allocations of 16.6%, 23.8% and 12.3% to these asset types, respectively, at the end of June.

Real estate and infrastructure meanwhile, which carry portfolio weightings of 5.0% and 8.7%, respectively, produced returns of 1.1% and 5.0%, according to the pension fund’s new data released.

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