Europe’s largest asset manager, Amundi, has secured a €2.6bn custom mandate from Danish labour market pension fund Pensam.
The separately managed account will track the MSCI ACWI climate change index and incorporate specific customisations.
It follows an announcement earlier this year from Pensam that it would measure its entire listed equity portfolio against a climate change index as part of its strategy to support the green transition and reduce its carbon impact.
Claus Jørgensen, chief investment officer at the pension fund, commented: “The mandate will be key to achieving our key goals of strong returns, integration of climate objectives and low cost.”
Distribution agreement
Meanwhile in Norway, Nordea has agreed to acquire the occupational and individual pension portfolios for Frende Livsforsikring.
The portfolios have total unit-linked assets of roughly NOK4.2bn (€394m); with around 5,600 customers representing roughly 32,000 individual policyholders.
It plans to combine the business with its Norwegian insurance subsidiary Livsforsikringsselskapet Nordea Liv.
As part of the transaction, Nordea Liv will also enter into a long-term agreement to distribute pension products with the local savings bank which owns Frende.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. Financial details were not disclosed.
Nordic target market
Away from the pensions industry, Swedish financial group Öhman has sold its private banking activities to Luxembourg-based VP Bank.
Structured as an asset deal, it includes the takeover of a client adviser team of 11, as well as client assets of roughly €760m.
No financial details will be disclosed following an agreement between the parties.
The existing private banking clients of Öhman Bank, the majority of whom are Scandinavian entrepreneurs and investors, will continue to be served by their personal adviser in Luxembourg.
However, they will also benefit for the development of products and services in Luxembourg which are geared to the Nordic target market.
VP Bank entered the Scandinavian market in 2018 after taking over the Luxembourg investment funds of the Swedish financial services group Carnegie, as well as the Luxembourg private banking activities of Catella Bank which is headquartered in Sweden.
The chief executive of VP Bank Group, Paul Arni, said the acquisition “makes a significant contribution to the expansion of our activities in the Luxembourg as well as Scandinavian markets”.
