Hanna Ideström, AP4
Hanna Ideström, AP4

In conversation with AP4

The SKr449 billion ($54 billion; €44 billion) Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund is focusing on renewable energy, resource efficiency and energy transition. It will access those trends “regardless of asset class”, says senior portfolio manager Hanna Ideström. Read our quickfire Q&A with Hanna from the virtual sidelines of May’s Impact Investor Forum on New Private Markets. Not got time? Here are some takeaways:

  • AP4 does not invest directly in private markets: always through funds. But the pension is hoping to allocate more capital to what the pension calls “platforms”: “a much closer form of partnership than traditional fund structures”.
  • The pension is tracking portfolio CO2-emissions, but expects to start tracking other non financial data “in the next few years”.
  • Ideström believes the term “impact” is too broadly defined and should be divided by either returns expectations or geographic focus.

Video: CTPF’s Miller-May on GPs turning commitments into action 

GPs made many “promises” and pledged “initiatives” to create a more inclusive finance industry at the start of last summer’s protest movement, Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund chief investment officer Angela Miller-May said earlier this year. A year later, she said, some LPs are wanting to see what progress is being made. 

“The purpose is to have real and sustainable change,” Miller-May explained during PEI Media’s Responsible Investment Forum in March. “We’re not being good fiduciaries unless we’re following up on this.” Watch the edited conversation here, which also includes advice on how GPs can further support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

Hinting at a debut debt fund.

Over on affiliate title Infrastructure Investor, Australian fund manager Impact Investment Group is reportedly looking to fill a debt funding gap left by government-owned investor Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The manager will “expand its debt investment offering as it looks to meet increased demand for specialist lending services within the clean energy infrastructure sector, including the potential establishment of its first debt fund”, writes Tharsini Ashoken (subscription or registration required).

Speaking of CEFC…

…don’t think for a moment that the Australian state-backed investor is backing away from its mission of increasing investment into the country’s transition to lower emissions. Writing for New Private Markets in March, chief executive Rory Lonergan described how it is using mid-market corporate private equity as a lever to steer Australia towards lower emissions. 

The fund’s first ever private equity commitment came last year when it wrote an A$80 million ($62 million; €51 million) cheque for Adamantem Capital’s second fund. “Working with an industry leader like Adamantem enables the CEFC to use the highly competitive nature of private equity to drive an increased focus on sustainability throughout the sector. And successful engagement with private equity could deliver far-reaching change across the economy,” he wrote.