AP1, one of the Swedish national buffer funds, has appointed Michael Angberg as CIO in a new role at the fund.

Angberg joins from PIMCO in London, where he was head of business development for the Nordic region.

Ossian Ekdahl, head of communications and ESG at AP1, said the buffer fund was responding to the increasing demands of the CIO and chief executive roles with the new hire.

“We are appointing a CIO to add resources to both the role of CEO and CIO,” he told IPE.

Until now, Johan Magnusson has held the dual role of chief executive and CIO.

Prior to his role at PIMCO, Angberg, who joins AP1 on 9 December, was head of institutional derivatives sales at BNP Paribas and earlier head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s institutional sales for the Nordic region.

He has also worked for AXA Investment Management and CERN.

Magnusson said in a statement that Angberg would lead and continue to develop the fund’s asset management capabilities where his broad experience would be of great benefit for AP1.

The buffer fund, with assets of SEK246bn (€27.5bn) returned 4% for the first six months of the year.

On average, the fund has returned 6.1% annually over the past 10 years, which is above the target of 5.5%.

The fund has been at the forefront of increasing alternative investments and has in recent years added farmland as well as exposure to subordinated and mezzanine debt in what it calls its ‘new investments’ portfolio.

In addition, the fund is making its first foray into emerging markets small caps and boosting its allocation to active managers in the region.

In 2012, the fund invested nearly SEK10bn in hedge funds over the course of the year, citing its wish to reduce equity risk exposure but retain high returns.

Its strategic allocation is approximately 50% equities, 30% fixed income and 20% hedge funds, real estate, private equity and the ‘new investments’ portfolio.

In Sweden, the AP funds have been subject to a broad review in order to future-proof the funds.

The government enquiry, chaired by Mats Langensjö, in 2012 has yet to result in any changes to the system.

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