Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – AP4, one of the buffer funds in Sweden’s state pension system managing a total of SEK357bn (€34.4bn) , has newly appointed Jenny Askfelt Ruud as head of Alternative Investments. Askfelt Ruud would assume her role, currently held by Tobias Fransson,with effect from September, and gradually strengthen the fund’s alternatives team in order to take advantage of revised guidelines for the AP-funds. Tobias Fransson will going forward, act as head of strategy and sustainability.
AP4 prepares for the new investment guidelines for the AP Funds that are expected to be implemented during 2019. In a first step, the AP Funds will be given increased possibilities to allocate to illiquid investments, and take effect as of January 1, 2019. The second step, which aims to enable the AP Funds to invest in unlisted instruments directly, is planned to take effect on July 1, 2019. These changes are a welcome modernization of the current investment guidelines that are almost 20 years old by now to AP4, the fund says in a press release
”We are very happy to have recruited Jenny Askfelt Ruud as head of Alternative Investments at AP4. Jenny has a long background from unlisted direct investments, long-term ownership and sustainability from inter alia the investment company Ratos, McKinsey and Morgan Stanley. These are experiences that we seek going forward now that we get an increased and broader investment mandate.” comments Niklas Ekvall, CEO of AP4.
AP4’s CEO Niklas Ekvall with Jenny Askfelt Ruud
”I am looking forward to the opportunity to develop AP4’s strategy and position within alternative investments together with Niklas and the team at AP4. Given the new investment regulations, this gives AP4 the opportunity to think wide and new. Together with the ambition to integrate sustainability, this is an exciting opportunity. I hope to contribute with my experience and grow the portfolio of unlisted, sustainable investments.” says Jenny Askfelt Ruud, incoming Head of Alternative Investments at AP4.
In financial results, AP4 reported it made a 9.1% net return on investment in 2017, on the back of “generally favourable performance for the global equity markets”.
Kamran has been working in the financial industry since 1994 and has specialized on client relations and marketing. Having worked with retail clients in asset management and brokerage the first ten years of his career for major European banks, he joined a CTA / Managed Futures fund with 1,5 Billion USD under management where he was responsible for sales, client relations and operations in the BeNeLux and Nordic countries. Kamran joined a multi-family office managing their own fund of hedgefunds with 400 million USD AuM in 2009. Kamran has worked and lived in Vienna, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Stockholm.
Born in 1974, Kamran today again lives in Vienna, Austria.
Lynx Asset Management, best known for its flagship trend-following program Lynx, has in recent years expanded its product offering with the launch of Lynx...
Infrastructure is at the heart of Europe’s economic transformation. Richard Marshall, Head of Infrastructure Research at DWS, explores how subsectors like data centres, renewable...
Precious metals specialist AuAg Funds continues to celebrate milestone after milestone. Just a month after its alternative 60/40 fund, AuAg Precious Green, marked its...
Swedish fund company Finserve Holding announced in mid-summer its bid to acquire all shares in specialist asset manager Resscapital AB, a transaction that has...
Atlas Global Macro, the theme-driven hedge fund co-founded and co-managed by Lars Tvede, is finally showing signs of the potential its founders envisioned at...
The Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market in the United States is far more developed than in Europe, reflecting differences in market maturity, regulatory frameworks,...