Torben Möger Pedersen has been chief executive officer of PensionDanmark since its creation in 1992. But in taking the fund to its current award-winning position, with some €30bn under management at the end of 2017 and over 700,000 members, he has brought innovation way beyond the scheme to have a decisive influence over the entire Danish and European pension systems. 

 

The list of achievements throughout his 26 years or so at the helm of PensionDanmark is comprehensive. He is credited as being instrumental in developing a new model for defined contribution plans based on a mark-to-market principle. This has encouraged the scheme and its peers elsewhere in Europe to introduce greater degrees of flexibility into their asset allocation policies. 

 

He was instrumental in devising the fund’s infrastructure and renewable energy investments. This portfolio now accounts for some 10% of PensionDanmark’s assets and features a selection of on and offshore windfarms and biomass plants across Europe. In addition to enhancing PensionDanmark’s level of ESG integration, it also offers a stable long-term cashflow for its members.

 

In a similar vein, building on this portfolio, Möger Pedersen oversaw the creation of the Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners concept in 2012. This is a dedicated investment vehicle that invests in regulated infrastructure renewable energy sources. With some €6.8bn under management, it has become one of the largest of its kind in Europe. It started life with an initial commitment from PensionDanmark, which is still a significant shareholder, but now employs a multinational team with extensive experience and knowledge, and a broad range of competencies within corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, engineering, construction, and project development and management. Its current portfolio includes offshore wind, onshore wind, offshore power transmission, biomass and waste to energy, and solar photovoltaic investments across Europe, North America and Taiwan. 

 

Möger Pedersen was also a key initiator in the launch of specialist ‘blended funds’ that combine pension fund capital and public sector financing from the Danish International Development Agency, These are co-investment vehicles that seek to underpin and support local communities and markets with sustainable investments. The latest launch is a special Danish SDG Investment Fund with commitments of €750m already received. Its remit is based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals initiative. 

 

Under Möger Pedersen’s leadership, PensionDanmark has also become a significant award-winning real estate investor, with a portfolio now worth €2.5bn and a maximum target exposure of 10% overall. An extensive sustainable policy drives the real estate strategy and recent moves include student housing and ‘lifestyle housing’ designed and maintained according to the needs of specific demographic groups.

 

Möger Pedersen has also helped redefine the scope and range of benefits a pension fund can provide by helping to develop and launch a comprehensive preventative health care programme for all the scheme’s members as well as a project for education financing. 

 

Prior to joining PensionDanmark, Möger Pedersen was CEO at PKS Pension Fund and held the position as head of secretariat at the General Workers’ Union. His numerous board member positions outside PensionDanmark include:

He is also a leading proponent of climate change management in Denmark and elsewhere. In addition to being a member of the Danish Climate Fund, he also sits on the UN Green Climate Fund’s Private Sector Advisory Group, and World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda and Investment Councils, where he sits on the steering committee. 

 

He holds a master of science in economics from Copenhagen University and has completed executive management programmes at Babson College, INSEAD Fontainebleau, INSEAD Singapore and Wharton Business School.