Pen-Sam, Farum, Denmark, chose 10 U.S. equity managers and five emerging equity managers as finalists in a search by the 42 billion Danish krone ($6.8 billion) pension fund, said Jens Elkjaer, head of equities. He declined to identify the firms. Two U.S. equity managers will run a total of 2 billion kroner.The fund will hire one emerging markets manager; the amount of that portfolio could not be learned by press time. Selections are expected in September.
Fund officials want a regional management style, rather than the current global focus, for more specialization, and they divided the fund's equity portfolio into three regions: North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. According to Mr. Elkjaer, the fund has 15% to 25% of total assets in equities; he would not provide further details.
As a result of the new focus, fund officials have already hired four new managers. They are negotiating contracts with two Asia-Pacific equity managers, which Mr. Elkjaer would not identify, to run a total of 600 million kroner. In addition, they hired AXA Rosenberg Investment Management and Capital International to run 1.3 billion kroner in European equities.
