Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, Oslo, posted a 6.6% return on its investments in the nine months ended Sept. 30.
An update Thursday by the Norwegian pension company said it gained 4.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($499 million) in the three quarters ended Sept. 30. Total group assets rose 1.08% to 745 billion Norwegian kroner since June 30 and 33% in the nine-month period. Assets were up 32% year-over-year.
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, the largest asset class in KLP's common portfolio — the 194 billion kroner equity allocation — gained 15.6% vs. 5.7% during the same period a year ago.
The 314.7 billion Norwegian kroner bond investments returned 8.1% for the nine months compared with -1.1% in the first nine months of 2018.
An allocation to bonds held to maturity added 2.7% vs. 2.8% in the same period a year-earlier and stood at 30.2 billion kroner as of Sept. 30.
Loans to municipalities added 1.8% in the nine months and stood at 101.6 billion kroner, compared with a 1.7% return in the year-earlier period.
Real estate, at 69.6 billion kroner, gained 4.6% in the quarter, compared with 5.6% in the first three quarters of 2018. Other investments added 1.4% and stood at 33.7 billion kroner in the quarter, down from a 0.9% return a year earlier.
"We are pleased to present such strong results after the third quarter," KLP CEO Sverre Thornes said in a news release accompanying the results. "The good result allows us to maintain our ambition to reduce our prices and thus expenses for our customers and owners."
