ATP appoints chief executive

ATP has named Christian Hyldahl as its new chief executive, starting January 1, PERE's sister publication, Infrastructure Investor, reported Monday.

The Danish pension’s current head, Carsten Stendevad, said in August he would step down at the end of the year for family reasons.

Hyldahl will join from Swedish bank Nordea, where he is at the helm of the asset management division. He was promoted to the role in January 2015, after serving as the unit’s chief investment officer for nearly four years.

Jorgen Sondergaard, ATP’s chairman, said Hyldahl had been chosen for his “high integrity” and “great judgement”, as well as for his robust knowledge of international financial markets.

”Our priority has been to recruit a new CEO who can head ATP [at a time when] every institutional investor is facing the challenge of creating returns on investments,” he said.

Under Stendevad’s tenure, ATP has strived to developed its in-house capabilities and boost its direct investment portfolio, as part of what Sondergaard described as its “tremendous” contribution to reshaping the institution’s investment strategy.

ATP, Denmark’s biggest pension fund and Europe’s fourth-largest, manages about DKr824 billion ($121 billion; €111 billion). . In January, ATP partnered with AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets to acquire two City of London hotels from Chelsfield Partners for £180 million ($258 million; €240 million, the Danish fund's first overseas hospitality investment, PERE previously reported.

The firm's latest real estate fund allocation was a DKK600 million ($90 million; €80.6 million) earmark to Norden VIII, the 2015 value-added fund from Ejendomsselskabet Norden, according to PERE data.

ATP also announced in June that CIO Henrik Gade Jepsen is leaving to join Danske Bank. The new CIO will be 44-year-old Kasper Arndt Lorenzen, who was previously head of liquid markets in ATP’s investment division.