Legal & General : Investment Management opens Nordic office in Stockholm

6 May 2020

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of the world's leading asset managers with €1.4 trillion in assets under management (AuM)1, today announces the opening of its first Nordic office in Stockholm, Sweden, in a move aimed at strengthening the firm's presence in the region.

The local presence will enable LGIM to work more closely with institutional investors and wholesale clients in the Nordics, already a key market for the asset manager in Europe. LGIM will continue to offer its range of active and passive investment solutions, underpinned by Responsible Investing, in the region, covering Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. Managing €178bn in responsible investment strategies explicitly linked to ESG criteria², LGIM will leverage its expertise and its leading Investment Stewardship team to service demand from local investors.

The office will be led by Anders Arjes who joins LGIM today as Head of Nordics Institutional. Anders will be supported by a dedicated sales function for the firm's Nordic clients, based in London, and will report to Volker Kurr, Head of Europe Institutional.

Anders joins from Deutsche Bank where he worked as director in institutional equity sales. Previously, he was account manager in institutional equity sales at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux Nordic. He also worked as head of global equities at the fourth Swedish national pension fund (AP4), where he was also a member of the Executive Management Committee. Anders holds a Master of Science diploma, accounting and finance major, from Stockholm School of Economics.

Responsible Investing is embedded within LGIM's processes and decisions. The firm takes its investment stewardship seriously. In 2019 LGIM supported more shareholder resolutions on climate change than any of the world's largest asset managers³, while also opposing the re-election of more than 4,000 company directors globally. LGIM took sanctions against 11 companies named as laggards under its Climate Impact Pledge; and opposed 35% of pay packages globally⁴. LGIM's Investment Stewardship approach was also validated by an independent analysis of large asset managers' responsible investment capabilities, which found LGIM to be one of only five worldwide to receive an A rating, and the highest-rated among UK, index and the 15 largest global asset managers.⁵

LGIM has been active in the Nordics for a number of years, and our decision to open the first Nordic office in Sweden demonstrates our commitment to growing our presence in the region. It underpins our successful European growth strategy, and will enable us to focus on a key market for us, where we already have significant assets.

We are very pleased to welcome Anders onboard. With his deep knowledge of the Nordic institutional and wholesale markets, as well as extensive sales and portfolio management experience, he will be an invaluable asset for our ambition in the region.

Volker Kurr

Head of Europe Institutional, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM)

LGIM's strong reputation for delivering innovative active and passive investment solutions makes the firm well positioned to grow its presence in the Nordics, a market known for its investment sophistication. The firm's focus on responsible investing and investment stewardship will also resonate strongly with local large asset owners, insurers and corporate pension funds, as well as fund buyers. I am excited to lead our sales efforts in the region and look forward to working closely with Volker and the team, as the firm embarks on this new phase of growth in the Nordics.

Anders Arjes

Head of Nordics Institutional, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM)

Key risk warnings

The value of an investment and any income taken from it is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up; you may not get back the amount you originally invested.

Notes to editors

Biography

Anders Årjes - Head of Nordics Institutional, LGIM

Anders joined LGIM as Head of Nordics Institutional in May 2020. Prior to joining LGIM Anders was a Director in Institutional Equity Sales at Deutsche Bank, Institutional Equity Sales at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux Nordic and Head of Global Equities at Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4), where he was also a member of the Executive Management Committee. Anders holds a Master of Science diploma, accounting and finance major, from Stockholm School of Economics.

Legal & General Investment Management:

Legal & General Investment Management is one of Europe's largest asset managers and a major global investor, with total assets under management of £1.2tn/€1.4bn trillion6. We work with a wide range of global clients, including pension schemes, sovereign wealth funds, fund distributors and retail investors.
Throughout the past 40 years we have built our business through understanding what matters most to our clients and transforming this insight into valuable, accessible investment products and solutions. We provide investment expertise across the full spectrum of asset classes including fixed income, equities, commercial property and cash. Our capabilities range from index-tracking and active strategies to liquidity management and liability-based risk management solutions.

1 LGIM internal data as at 31 December 2019. The AUM disclosed aggregates the assets managed by LGIM in the UK, LGIMA in the US and LGIM Asia in Hong Kong. The AUM includes the value of securities and derivatives positions.
² As of 31 December 2019
³ Source: ShareAction
⁴ LGIM's Active Ownership Report: www.lgim.com/ownership
⁵ Source: ShareAction - Point of No Returns (2020)
⁶ LGIM internal data as at 31 December 2019. These figures include assets managed by LGIMA, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Data includes derivative positions.

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