Leading the way in sustainable future-proofing

"A true industry leader, pioneer and a frontrunner in integrated, systematic and active ESG policies with very good long-term investment results and active engagement in all areas," judge’s comment

WINNER

Country

Netherlands

Founded

2008

Type

Hybrid multi-employer pension investor

Members

1,232,782 active
997,317 retired
783397 deferred

Assets

€521,000m

Performance

-10% (1yr)
15.01% (3yr)
15.77% (5yr)
16.01% (10yr)

As at 31 December 2022
 

● APG is the largest pensions services provider in the Netherlands and Europe and, as such, it manages the assets, including investments, of some 4.5 million members in the Netherlands in pensions funds from employers in the education, government, construction, cleaning, housing associations, sheltered employment organisations, medical specialists and architects sectors. At the end of September 2023, its pensions assets under management totalled some €513bn.

APG has a mature and highly diversified portfolio whose value stood at €625bn at the end of 2022. Some 34% of the portfolio comprises fixed income instruments, including treasuries, credits, and debt. Equities account for 40% diversified across developed and emerging markets. The remaining 26% of the portfolio is invested into alternatives, including 8% in listed and private real estate, 7% in private equity, 4% in commodities, 4% in infrastructure, 2% in hedge funds and 1% in venture capital.

The investment objective is to seek superior risk-adjusted real returns and outperform the benchmarks through active management over the medium to long term. Rather than focussing on a particular type of structure, APG focuses on return and move across the whole spectrum, including direct investments, funds, co-investments, club investments, joint ventures and secondaries. Its portfolio is thus spread across risk groups, sectors and regions, with the focus on stability and security of the income profile.

ESG is key driver in APG’s investment strategy and it maintains a strong focus on adherence to the highest, industry-leading ESG standards. Throughout its investment process, it considers various ESG criteria, including climate resilience, resource efficiency, social impact and governance. Furthermore, it includes ESG-related performance targets in executive compensation to ensure accountability and alignment with sustainability goals.

APG prioritises sustainable investments that generate favourable outcomes over the long run. In pursuit of this goal, it conducts comprehensive assessments of the societal and environmental impact of potential acquisitions, while carefully evaluating governance practices alongside traditional financial and risk criteria. Moreover, its Responsible Investment & Stewardship Policy thoroughly outlines its approach to sustainable stewardship, which serves as a guiding framework for its actions. It also adheres closely to the principles outlined in the Dutch Stewardship Code.

APG actively addresses climate change mitigation and resilience. It views climate change as both a risk and an opportunity, investing in assets that reduce emissions and promote a low-carbon economy. Its dedicated climate steering group develops strategic investment plans integrating climate risks and opportunities. It also assesses and mitigates physical climate risks in its real assets portfolios.

APG has contributed to developing market standards for ESG in infrastructure, including a leading role in the establishment of GRESB – the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark – which is now widely recognised globally as a sustainable benchmark for institutional investors’ real estate portfolios. In its own GRESB assessment in 2022, some 100 of its infrastructure holdings took part. This represents 89% of the portfolio and APG’s score improved from 81 in 2021 to 85 in 2022, outperforming peer-led benchmarks.

APG prioritises reporting on sustainable and green infrastructure investments to increase its transparency and accountability, relying on recognised standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to measure and report its environmental and social impact. Green building certification is another area where APG emphasises the importance of certified data, favouring holistic certification schemes such as BREEAM, GreenStar, CASBEE, and LEED. These provide comprehensive sustainability information, including over 100 data points per asset.

STRATEGIC TAKEAWAYS

➤ Part of largest pension fund entity in Europe serving 1 in 4 Dutch families

➤ Mature and highly diversified portfolio of €521bn at the end of 2022

➤ Climate change strategy investing in assets that reduce emissions and promote a low-carbon economy

➤ Adherence to leading ESG and governance standards

➤ Comprehensive engagement and stewardship policy

➤ Leading founder and contributor in industry benchmarks and ratings standards

HIGHLY COMMENDED

As at 31 December 2022
 

Fjärde AP-fonden’s (AP4) long-term perspective starts with an ALM study that takes place every three years, with the most recent revision in 2023. The ALM process aims to set AP4’s long-term return targets as well as the suitable allocation intervals for exposure to equities, foreign exchange and fixed-income duration. AP4 analyses the pension system’s long-term need for returns and net payments from the AP funds, structural preconditions for economic development and anticipated long-term returns. AP4 analyses the optimal balance between anticipated returns and risk that best contributes to a strengthening of the pension system while limiting the risk of activating the brake – the automatic balancing mechanism to ensure no one generation does better than another. A key finding from the 2023 ALM study was that the Swedish pension system has developed even more strongly than anticipated since the 2020 study, mainly thanks to demographic reasons and the strong performance of the AP funds.

Country 

Denmark

AUM*

€41,000m

Performance)

–5.8% (1yr)
4.4% (3yr)
4.9% (5yr)
6.1% (10yr)

As at 31 December 2022
 

Technology is a key driver in PensionDanmark’s operations and it implements appropriate solutions in all relevant flows and processes concerning its members. This approach means that it is now 100 % digital and completely free of processes formerly reliant on paper. Moreover, it is one of the first European pension funds to move its entire IT landscape to a cloud-based platform. This opens a world of opportunities, allowing full adaptability and real time presentations for members and customers around the clock. Security and data ethics are key elements in the cloud-based solution with no personally attributable data in a fully anonymised process. It also means that PensionDanmark’s digital universe is future-proofed. Existing solutions are upgraded to provide an even better overview, new services are being added, and the design is being adjusted to allow the large proportion of logins made from telephones and tablets rather than PCs. The platform makes it easier, faster and cheaper for PensionDanmark to develop new solutions.

RISING STAR

Country 

Belgium

AUM

€1,116m

As at 31 December 2022
 

United Pensions has operated for almost 10 years as a cross-border pension fund and delivers local defined contribution (DC), collective DC, cash balance and defined benefit (DB) pension benefits in different EU member states, even if the plan sponsor is in another state. It provides a complete, outsourced solution with best-practice governance, access to world-class investments and optimal retirement and savings outcomes. DB liabilities can be consolidated across the various national regimes into one single cross-border vehicle. This leads to more consistency in defining the investment strategy and facilitates access to higher quality and more diversified investments to potentially enhance performance.

Judged by

Wiktor Askanas
Christian Böhm
Ulrikke Ekelund
Heribert Karch
Lisa Lafave
Matti Leppälä
Amlan Roy

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