SWEDEN – US specialist investment consultancy firm New England Pension Consultants (NEPC) has beaten a field of some of Europe’s biggest consultants to become the advisor to Sweden’s e2.3bn AP7 fund for a tender worth around e180m in hedge fund and private equity assets, according to sources close to the deal.

NEPC, an employee-owned, full-service investment-consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts has been operating for around fifteen years and currently services over 155 retainer clients with total assets in excess of $270 billion.

The firm triumphed over a shortlist of six consultants that included Watson Wyatt, William Mercer, Stockholm-based Wassum in conjunction with Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow and specialist UK private equity firm Campbell Lutyens.

AP7’s move into hedge funds/private equity is being seen as a test exposure to hedge funds/private equity in Sweden.

Daniel Barr, chief analyst at AP7 told IPE-Newsline that the role of the consultant will be twofold, looking at both implementation issues as well as assisting in the manager search by putting together the RFPs and carrying out due diligence and reporting with the fund.

AP7 has already asked for expressions of interest from managers to run a hedge fund of funds with a balanced multi-strategy approach and a global private equity exposure that includes both venture and buy-out allocations.

Deadline for manager expressions of interest is November 26.

Topics