Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, Heerlen, Netherlands, the pension fund for government and education employees, invested in a Chinese A-shares fund strategy by E Fund Management, said APG Asset Management, manager of the €325 billion ($388 billion) pension fund.
APG Asset Management selected E Fund Management to manage a €250 million allocation to Chinese equity. The mandate is aimed at selecting individual stocks according to APG's approach, which assumes that the ESG-related aspects of stock selection have an equal weight to those concerning risk, return and cost, an APG spokesman said in an email.
The spokesman added that APG "intends to increase the exposure to the fund over time."
"Our responsible investment approach combined with local intelligence will create unique investment opportunities for us in China. We are hoping to set a trend and share our knowledge and experience with other institutional investors," said Ronald Wuijster, chief investment officer of APG Asset Management, in a news release.
APG, which has a total of €369 billion in assets under management, previously invested in Chinese equity via Hong-Kong listed H shares. The size of the allocation was not available.
