Thor Sourander, CIO of Veritas, told nrpn that the expansion into alternatives was still at the planning stage. “Over the mid-term our target is to have approximately 5 per cent of the portfolio invested in alternatives, but the finer details on this are yet undecided,” he said.

At present the fund’s 1 per cent exposure to alternatives consists of hedge funds and private equity, most of which has been done through funds-of-funds.

“We use funds mostly for investments outside Europe and in areas where our in-house expertise is not particularly strong. In the future, we will probably shift more towards direct investments in the hedge fund space,” Mr Sourander said.

Veritas is also likely to invest in indirect property funds in the future. “At present, our direct property holdings make 18 per cent of the total portfolio. We would like to diversify our property portfolio by topping it up with indirect vehicles. We are interested in property funds because they provide an effective means to diversify geographically.”

The fund is also planning to expand its equity investments. “We are probably going to continue increasing our allocation to equities if the markets behave as we expect.” Mr Sourander envisages an increase especially in European equity holdings. “We see Europe, and especially Scandinavia, as extension of our domestic market.”

At present Veritas’ portfolio consists of fixed income (41.3 per cent), equities (33.8 per cent), property (17.8 per cent), money markets (5.7 per cent) and loans (1.4 per cent). Within its portfolio Veritas has also a minor exposure to alternative asset classes, totaling roughly 1 per cent of all holdings.

RC

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