AP2, Gothenburg, Sweden, recorded a net 4.8% return in the six months ended June 30, while AP3, Stockholm, recorded a net 5.5% return for the period as the global economy improved.
For AP2, with assets of 423.9 billion Swedish kronor ($39.1 billion) at the end of June, the return added 19.4 billion Swedish kronor. It compares to a negative return of -6.2% in the first half of 2022.
AP2 CEO Eva Halvarsson said in a statement that the global economy performed better than expected in the first half of 2023 with equity and fixed-income markets contributing to the 4.8% return, but that growth forecasts "are still subject to considerable uncertainty."
"Our assessment is that the prevailing market uncertainty will continue. Against this background, it is satisfactory that we have spread the risks as far as possible between different types of asset classes and markets, between listed and unlisted assets, and between different management models," Ms. Halvarsson said.
The pension fund has averaged a 7.5% return over the past 10 years.
AP3, one of five funds investing for the Swedish state pension system, had 491.5 billion Swedish kroner ($45.4 billion) at the end of June. AP3 generated annualized returns of 8.6% over five years, and 9.3% over the last 10 years, it said in a report Wednesday.
Listed equities returned 13.3%, contributing 5.3 percentage points to the overall return, AP3 said in the report on the first half of 2023.
AP3 CEO Staffan Hansén said in the report that the satisfactory return was "in line with our relatively cautious view on the markets. The economic outlook, direction of interest rates and the real economic effects of central bank tightening are marked by continued uncertainty, and we have therefore not made any major changes in our investment portfolio."
