Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, Oslo, posted a 4.8% return on its investments in six months ended June 30.
An update Thursday by the Norwegian pension company said it gained 4.3 billion Norwegian kroner ($479 million) in the first half of the year. Total group's assets rose 16.4% to 737 billion Norwegian kroner from March 31 and 9% in six months. Assets were up 10.2% year-over-year.
For the three months ended June 30, the largest asset class in KLP's common portfolio — the 183 billion kroner equity allocation — gained 11.5% in the second quarter vs. 1.1% during the same quarter a year ago.
The 313.8 billion Norwegian kroner bond investments returned 5.8% for the quarter compared with -1.2% in the second quarter of 2018.
An allocation to bonds held to maturity added 1.8% — matching the year-earlier quarter's result — and stood at 28.4 billion kroner as of June 30.
Loans to municipalities added 1.2% in the quarter and stood at 99.6 billion kroner, compared with a 1.1% return in the same quarter a year earlier.
Real estate, at 69.6 billion kroner, gained 3.2% in the quarter, compared with 4.3% in the second quarter of 2018. Other investments added 1% and stood at 42.2 billion kroner in the quarter, up from returning 0.7% a year earlier.
"We're pleased to present a strong result for the first six months," KLP CEO Sverre Thornes said in a news release. "The return on our customers' pension fund is well above the return we have guaranteed, and our costs are low. The good result allows us to maintain our ambition to reduce our prices and thus costs for our customers and owners."
