Sampension, the €12.5bn Danish pension management company, is set to invest in energy-linked equities, and has put its planned moves into commodities on hold.

Earlier this year, the company’s chief investment officer, Henrik Olejasz Larsen, told nrpn that the firm was very interested in adding alternative investments along with commodities and infrastructure. This was all supposed to come at the expense of bonds, to which the firm currently has a 66 per cent allocation.

However, to date, no such investments have been made.

Mr Olejasz Larsen explained that the company wanted to invest in commodities, particularly ones related to energy, but had been caught off guard. Prices became so expensive that these investments had to be delayed.

He said: “Right now they are very expensive so we are waiting, but in the meantime we will look to invest in equities that have connections to energy.”

These types of equities would include firms like Exxon and Chevron. As with commodities such as oil, these equities have risen significantly thanks to windfall profits, but not nearly as sharply as the price of oil.

Mr Olejasz Larsen indicated that, despite the volatility, Sampension was still interested in commodities and would make an investment, but for the moment the strategy was to wait out what many believe is oil speculation and then make an investment when oil and commodity prices fall.

He said: “We are waiting for prices to go down and we believe that eventually they will. Once they do, we’ll look to take advantage of that.”

As it stands, the fund has 10 per cent of its assets in alternatives, 1 per cent of which is in commodities. Mr Olejasz Larsen said that when the commodity investments finally do happen, it was likely that it would add “a couple” of percentage points to the asset class.

One of Sampension’s main alternatives at the moment is forestry. It has invested a significant amount in South American forestry, and there is every indication that the fund will expand these types of investments, which have so far proven very successful. In fact, along with private equity, forestry had the best returns in the firm’s portfolio. Interestingly, these are also the least liquid of its assets.

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