Maria Björklund Appointed AP3’s New Alternatives Chief

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – AP3, one of the five buffer funds within the Swedish public pension system, has appointed Maria Björklund as Head of Alternative Investments effective February 1. Björklund succeeds Bengt Hellström, who decided last year to step back from the managerial role.

“Maria Björklund has been appointed head of the Alternative Investments group and will take up the position on February 1,” AP3 writes in a press release. “Maria succeeds Bengt Hellström, who has chosen to leave the managerial role after deservingly building up and developing AP3’s Alternative Investments for 20 years,” says the press release. “Bengt Hellström will continue to work at the fund until further notice.”

“Maria Björklund has been appointed head of the Alternative Investments group and will take up the position on February 1.”

Björklund joined AP3 in September of 2018 as a senior portfolio manager for alternative investments, responsible for the fund’s investments in global real estate and infrastructure. Before joining AP3, Björklund worked at AMF as a portfolio manager responsible for alternative investments, primarily focusing on infrastructure investments. She had also built up and developed the portfolio of alternative investments at Postens Pensionsstiftelse – which invests and manages the Swedish national post service’s pension debt – before joining AMF in 2015. Björklund spent 17 years at Postens Pensionsstiftelse in various roles.

“Maria succeeds Bengt Hellström, who has chosen to leave the managerial role after deservingly building up and developing AP3’s Alternative Investments for 20 years.”

“Maria has a solid background as a manager of unlisted assets,” writes AP3 in a press release. “In addition to properties and infrastructure, she has also managed private equity and private debt,” the press release continues. “She also has experience as a fixed-income manager with a focus on the Swedish bond market.”

AP3’s alternative investments group is responsible for managing the fund’s unlisted investments in the areas of real estate, private equity, infrastructure, forestry, and insurance-linked securities. Alternative investments accounted for about 25 percent of AP3’s total capital of SEK 386.4 billion at the end of June last year. According to a press release in October last year, the team managing AP3’s alternative investments consisted of five “senior and highly competent employees.”

Picture Courtesy of AP3. Photographer: Peter Phillips.