Danish statutory pension fund ATP saw a major pick-up in investment returns in the third quarter, despite private equity gains from earlier this year being wiped out.
In a one-page January-to-September results statement released yesterday, ATP - which runs the Danish population-wide labour-market supplementary pension scheme - reported a 9.7% return on its return-seeking investment portfolio, which invests the scheme’s bonus potential.
That return is up significantly from the year-to-date gain of less than 3% reported at the half-year stage.
Total assets rose to DKK725.2bn (€97.2bn) by the end of September, according to the statement, which includes DKK114.5bn as bonus potential or free assets, and the hedging portfolio of DKK572bn, which covers pension liabilities in total pension liabilities.
Total assets climbed from DKK693.3bn at the end of June, at which point the bonus potential was DKK107.7bn.
Martin Præstegaard, chief executive officer of the Hillerød-based institution, said: “The development in both bonds and equities in the third quarter aligned well with ATP’s investment strategy.
“In the first three quarters of the year, the financial markets generally fluctuated a lot, which has resulted in large variations in the results throughout the year.
“I am pleased that we have earned almost DKK11bn in our investment portfolio in the first three quarters, despite extraordinary write-downs in private equity,” he said.
ATP said its investments in listed Danish and international equities and falling yields on bonds contributed positively to the return, “while private equity contributed negatively.”
This means the investment portfolio has lost at least the DKK735m gain it reported for private equity in the investment portfolio for January to June.
IPE asked ATP for more information about the “extraordinary write-downs” on private equity mentioned by Præstegaard, but a spokeswoman said the organisation had no comments beyond what was disclosed in the quarterly announcement.
ATP has a large investment in troubled Swedish green battery firm Northvolt, which is privately-held. At the end of June, it held a 5.3% stake in the firm, which has been in talks with its investors and other stakeholders over a cash crisis in recent months.
The ATP spokeswoman told IPE the pension fund would not give information on its investment in Northvolt, nor regarding the situation the Swedish firm was in.
Read the digital edition of IPE’s latest magazine
No comments yet