Swedish pension firms AMF and Skandia have invested in unlisted insurance technology company Lumera ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO).
Blue-collar occupational pension fund AMF said it was investing SEK380m (€32.6m) in the Swedish digital services firm, whose clients include large pension providers in the Nordics such as KLP, Folksam and AMF itself.
AMF said the investment corresponded to a stake of about 12.5% in Lumera.
Anders Oscarsson, head of equity at the SEK766bn pension fund, said: “Lumera is an exciting company within the fast-growing insuretech industry that we have followed for a long time.”
Oscarsson said AMF looked forward to “being part of Lumera’s continued journey as long-term owners” and believed this would be a good investment for its pension savers.
Since 2017, Lumera has been majority-owned by Nordic and German private equity firm Monterro, which targets software companies in the Nordic Region.
Lumera said today that Skandia had also made a minority investment in it, alongside AMF, and that the investment from these two “highly-regarded Swedish financial institutions” marked the first important step in Lumera’s preparation for an IPO.
Monterro would remain as majority investor, through its funds M2 and M4, Lumera said.
AP7 adds seven more coal firms to exclusion list
Sweden’s AP7 announced it has added seven more coal-linked companies to its investment blacklist in the list’s latest half-yearly update, but brought four other stocks from different sectors back into the fold.
The SEK905.2bn (€79.8bn) Swedish pension fund said all of the seven companies being blacklisted had been rejected because they conducted large scale coal operations – without credible climate transition plans.
Six of the seven companies being banned were from China – CITIC, Huaibei Mining Holdings, Inner Mongolia Dian Tou Energy Corp, Jizhong Energy Resources Co, Pingdingshan Tianan Coal Mining Co and Shan Xi Hua Yang Group New Energy Co – AP7 said in Thursday’s announcement.
India’s Adani Power is also being added to the exclusion list on coal grounds, the premium pension default option provider said.
Meanwhile, four companies are being removed from the blacklist, because they had been excluded for five years or more without new verified violations having occurred, AP7 said.
The four stocks being re-labelled by the national pension fund as investable are Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile US, Incitec Pivot and Nutrien, it said.
AP7 said its blacklist was an engagement tool – in collaboration with other such tools including company dialogues and voting at general meetings.
The pension fund now has 34 companies blacklisted on the grounds that they are acting against the targets of the Paris agreement through large scale coal operations, according to the updated list.
LD Pensions declares 3.1% return on largest investment pool in first five months
Denmark’s LD Pensions said the key investment pool LD Discretionary (LD Vælger) behind the older of the two pension funds it manages produced a 3.1% return in the year to 26 May, but warned that looking ahead, growing market jitters could hit investments.
The Frederiksberg-based pensions institution, which runs two atypical pension funds in Denmark – the Cost-of-Living Allowance Fund (Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsmidler) and the newer Holiday Allowance Fund (Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler) – said the return on the holiday fund was also in positive territory on 26 May for 2023, to the tune of 3.5%.
So far, 2023 had delivered much-needed positive markets, LD Pensions said in the commentary. “There is, however, an increasing nervousness to be detected in the market, which may have an impact on the coming months,” it added.
In the next few months, there would be a sharp focus central banks’ interest-rate policies, growth expectations and inflationary pressure, as well as company earnings, the Danish pension fund manager said.
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