Stockholm (HedgeNordic) –  IPM, a leading Swedish asset manager with 1.5 billion USD in its flagship macro strategy, has added a key profile from the Nordic pension funds industry to its board of directors. The addition deepens IPM’s knowledge in strategic issues faced by pension funds in today’s challenging investment environment.

IPM has taken on board Erik Valtonen, former Chief Investment Officer at AP3, one of the largest Swedish public pension funds with AuM of $35 billion. At AP3, Erik focused on strategic asset allocation, portfolio construction and innovation. Currently Erik holds a seat at the investment consultative committee of VER, the Finnish state pension fund.

By appointing Erik, IPM adds another independent director to its board and also someone with extensive knowledge from the world of pension funds. Stefan Nydahl, IPM’s Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement that Erik’s appointment would enhance the firm’s governance and IPM’s ability to stay on top of pension funds’ strategic issues and to continue delivering the most adequate investment solutions to address them.

The move follows the recruitment earlier this year of Stefan Nydahl as CEO, formerly at the Brummer group, one of the largest hedge funds group in Europe. Stefan joined IPM to strengthen the management team in a year where the firm saw the assets of its macro strategy almost double to $1.5 billion.

Lars Ericsson, deputy CEO and Head of Client Relationship Management, explains that IPM’s macro strategy, which now has close to 10 years of track-record, has seen strong demand globally on the back of investors’ increased need of diversification. Proof of this strong appetite is the successful launch of the strategy in a UCITS format on the Morgan Stanley FundLogic platform in August this year which attracted over USD 200 Million from institutional investors across Europe in only 4 months.

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