AP4's vd Mats Andersson rankad fyra på Public Investor 100 list

En viktig förutsättning för att placera sig på Public Investor 100 listan är att personen i fråga har bidragit till viktiga trender inom kapitalförvaltningen.

För tredje året i rad har Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI) rankat de 100 mest betydelsefulla och inflytelserika kapitalägarna och offentliga cheferna för 2015. AP4:s vd Mats Andersson rankas fyra och är därmed den bäst rankade svensken på listan. AP1:s Affärschef Mikael Angberg återfinns på plats 28.

SWFI är en global organisation som syftar till att studera nationella placeringsfonder, offentliga pensionsfonder, pensionskassor, centralbanker och andra långsiktiga offentliga investerare. De erbjuder kvalificerade tjänster såsom forskning och rådgivning till olika företag, fonder och regeringar.

Personerna på listan är förvaltare av miljarder i tillgångar. De kommer från medelstora till stora kapitalägare, däribland statliga fonder, offentliga pensionsfonder, centralbanker och andra pensionsfonder. En viktig förutsättning för att placera sig på Public Investor 100 listan är att personen i fråga har bidragit till viktiga trender inom kapitalförvaltning.

Mats Andersson rankas som nummer fyra med följande motivering:

Despite equity market turmoil erupting in mid-summer, the conceptual issues of ESG and portfolio decarbonization continues to gain headway in CIO circles. In fact, many pension funds that have isolated carbon assets, experienced a positive attribution of returns – publicly-traded energy stocks have struggled in 2014 and 2015.

As CEO of AP4, Mats Andersson sees carbon as a resource and one that comes with a cost. He makes no bones about the urgency of pricing carbon to address climate change. Andersson clearly understands that investing in listed companies that embrace sustainability practices and have lower carbon footprints, can add less risk to a portfolio. A reduction in carbon intensity of institutional portfolios can occur without sacrificing performance.

U.S. stocks in AP4’s portfolios were rebalanced, dumping and lowering exposure to companies with high carbon footprints. In October 2013, he engineered an emerging market equity strategy targeting companies with lower carbon emissions. Once AP4’s equity portfolio is finished decarbonizing, fixed income is his next target.

Soft-spoken Andersson has taken it upon himself to educate asset owners on the importance of decarbonization to lower risk and how it has helped AP4. He is active in both sustainability-focused investment venues and conferences where green investing takes a back seat. He addressed our Asian institutional investor audience last spring in Seoul, while recently heading over to Lima for the Climate Action High Level Meeting at the 20th Conference of Parties. He has even courted years back by Prince Charles to discuss his carbon investment strategy. Under Andersson, AP4 was a co-founder of the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition, a coalition of asset owners and managers on mobilizing financial markets to drive economic decarbonization.

Before becoming CEO of AP4, Andersson was chief investment officer at Skandia Liv and before that a portfolio manager at AP3. Andersson started his career as a credit analyst at Götabanken and head stints in roles such as financial sales, journalism and investing.