AP Fonden 4, Stockholm, hired eight managers for a preapproved list of firms to run active Japan equity and active Asia-Pacific ex-Japan equity, confirmed Tobias Fransson, head of external mandates at the €19 billion ($24 billion) fund.
The managers are Absolute Asia Asset Management, AllianceBernstein, APS Asset Management, Capital International, DIAM International, Fidelity International, JPMorgan Asset Management and Schroders. At stake is up to €1.5 billion in assets; that money is now passively managed, with about 70% in Japanese equities and the rest in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan, Mr. Fransson said.
It is likely that we may decide to increase the active risk of this portfolio, said Mr. Fransson, referring to the combined Asia-Pacific strategy. At this point, we haven't made any decisions on funding.
In September, AP4 appointed BGI, SSgA and BlackRock to run its passive global equity portfolio, which includes the Asia-Pacific portion. Information on which managers were running the passive Asia-Pacific portfolio was not available at press time.