Dutch pension funds invested a total €36 million ($38 million) in a new bond aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic.
Pension funds managed by APG and PGGM have invested in the Nordic Investment Bank's €1 billion Response Bond, which matures in April 2023. Proceeds of the bond will finance projects that help to alleviate the social and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic in NIB's eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.
APG has invested €16 million in the bond on behalf of its clients, a spokesman confirmed. Clients include Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, Heerlen, Netherlands, which has €419 billion in assets and invested €13 million of the total by APG clients in the bond.
Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, Zeist, Netherlands, which has €238.4 billion in assets, also invested in the bond through its manager, PGGM.
A spokesman for PGGM said it had invested €20 million in the bond, the first coronavirus-related investment for the manager.
Pricing was relatively attractive and, because PGGM invests on behalf of Dutch health-care workers, "we are happy to invest in health-care solutions such as this NIB bond," the spokesman said in an email.
Subscriptions to the bond reached more than €3.2 billion among more than 80 investors within three hours, an NIB news release said.
Separately, the European Investment Bank issued a three-year 3 billion Swedish kronor ($288 million) coronavirus pandemic bond aimed at supporting European health authorities, hospitals and laboratory facilities during the COVID-19 crisis, the bank said Wednesday.
Supported by Swedish, Danish, U.K. and Japanese investors, the bond will help finance medical equipment such as ventilators and beds as well as mobile hospitals and diagnostic units for COVID-19 treatment.
The issue, which matures on May 15, 2023, is part of the EIB's push for progress toward the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 3, focusing on universal health care. Investors include insurance company Lansforsakringar Liv, money manager Swedbank Robur and multimanager savings platform Skandia.
"We welcome the opportunity to support actors in the fight against the COVID 19 crisis, whilst also raising awareness towards important global sustainable development goals such as SDG 3," said Olof Klockhoff, portfolio manager at Skandia, in a news release. "Skandia is proud to partner with the EIB in order to support this initiative."
