Other institutional investors contacted by P&I said their exposure to Russia was not significant.
Anders Hjælmsoe Svennesen, Hilleroed, Denmark-based co-chief investment officer at the e80 billion Danish pension fund ATP, said the fund has about e40 million allocated to Russian government bonds. “That is a very low proportion of the portfolio that is invested ... in Russia.”
However, he said the fund is run with an environmental, social and governance policy in mind, and so executives at the fund “are following” the situation. As long as the Danish government and the United Nations do not alter their guidelines on investment in Russia, the executives will just keep a close watch.
The $145 billion Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, had about $375 million in global equity exposure to Russia as of March 31, according to unaudited numbers provided by a spokesman for the fund. He said there was no direct exposure to Ukraine, and that, given the size of the fund, any impact from the Russia exposure “would be minimal.”
Meanwhile, the $183.3 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, has a total investment exposure of $528 million to Russia and Ukraine, “a very small percentage of our ... portfolio,” said a spokesman for the fund. “We are not making any significant changes in our investment strategies at this time.”
Some pension fund officials said that while direct exposure might be insignificant, indirect investments are more of a concern. Merseyside's Mr. Wallach said funds might find they have more exposure to Russia “through a shareholding in BP PLC or one of the other oil majors than through any emerging markets allocation. Twenty percent or so of BP's assets are Russia-based, and that is not insignificant.”
Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, Zeist, the Netherlands — the Dutch pension fund for the care and welfare sector, which has e142 billion of assets — provided a statement through a spokesman for PGGM, the pension fund's money manager. “PFZW has little exposure to Russia (about e1 billion),” wrote the spokesman in an e-mailed comment. “Indirect effects can be more substantial. You can think, for example, of investments in Germany and Austria that could be hit by developments in Russia.”