Eva Halvarsson joins the Fund from a position as Head of the Division for State Enterprises at the Swedish Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, where she has led the administration of the majority of state-owned companies since 2002. These companies have a current estimated market value of SEK 500 billion. As a member of the so-called Code Group, she has been involved in developing the Swedish Code of Conduct for Boards of Directors. She has earlier been investment manager for a number of Swedish state holdings, as well as holding a post at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Prior to this, she worked for several years within the Swedish Tax Authority. She is a graduate of Gothenburg University’s School of Economics.

“We are extremely satisfied and pleased to have been able to recruit Eva Halvarsson as the new CEO of the Second Swedish National Pension Fund,” says Board Chairman Gunnar Larsson. “She has unique experience in the administration of state-owned companies and knows what is required in combining the need for a competitive return on investment with the responsible administration of public assets. She stands for committed and dynamic leadership, as well as having a close association with Gothenburg.”

“Managing the pension assets of the Swedish people is a highly important and responsible assignment. I look forward with pleasure and a sense of true commitment to shouldering my new role as CEO of the Second Swedish National Pension Fund,” says Eva Halvarsson, commenting on her appointment. “It feels particularly stimulating to join an administrative organisation that has established such a professional and innovative reputation. Although I myself come from Vansbro, and have lived in Stockholm for many years, Gothenburg is still like a second home to me. It is where I both studied and worked for no less than thirteen years!”

Eva Halvarsson takes up her new position in February.

For further details, please contact Board Chairman Gunnar Larsson,
+46 (0)702 79 79 40 (cell) or Eva Halvarsson, +46 (0)703 41 97 32 (cell).

The combined pension assets of the Second Swedish National Pension Fund/AP2 (hereafter named “the Second AP Fund”) totalled SEK 173.0 billion on June 30th 2005, an increase of SEK 14.9 billion, including inflows. The return on the Fund’s invested assets for the six months ending June 30th 2005 was 8.4 percent, excluding expenses. The result for the report period was SEK 13.2 billion.

• “We are proud of this result,” says CEO Lars Idermark, Second AP Fund. “The selection of benchmark portfolio and choice of index were key factors in achieving a satisfactory return on assets in 2005.”

• “We have also introduced a number of measures to further enhance the efficient management of invested assets. There has been a sharp reduction in the number of external managers and a greater proportion of the assets under management has been handled in-house,” states Lars Idermark.

For the first time, the Second AP Fund has published a separate Corporate Governance report.

Read the entire Half year report 2005 and the Corporate Governance report of June 2005.

For further details, please contact Lars Idermark or the Second AP Fund’s Head of Corporate Governance & Communications, Carl Rosén, on +46 (0)31 7042900

Lars Idermark leaves his post as CEO of Andra AP-fonden/The Second Swedish National Pension Fund in Gothenburg, on November 1st 2005, to take up his new position as CEO of Kooperativa Förbundet (KF), (Swedish Cooperative Union).

“Lars has built up the Fund since its foundation in 2000 and has done an excellent job. I quite understand that, after a period of five years, Lars is keen to accept new challenges, even though the Fund will be sorry to see him go. We shall now initiate a recruitment process to find a new CEO for the Fund,” says Gunnar Larsson, Chairman of Andra AP-fonden.

“It has been exciting to build up Andra AP-fonden, and I shall miss my colleagues. The Swedish national pension system, of which Andra AP-fonden is one of several ‘buffer’ funds, is an important cornerstone of Swedish society,” says Lars Idermark, commenting on his decision.

For further details, please call Gunnar Larsson, Chairman of the Board, on +46 (0)702-797940, Lars Idermark on +46 (0)706-723177 or AnCi Johannisson on +46 (0)702-797910.

The rate at which women are being recruited to the boards of Swedish publicly listed companies has declined, and the number of women on the executive management committees of these same companies is also falling.

This is clearly demonstrated by the Second AP Fund’s index of female representation on the boards and executive committees of Swedish exchange-listed companies. Since 2002, female representation on the boards of publicly listed companies has more than doubled, from 6.1 to 15.9 percent of these companies’ boards. During the same period, there has been a marginal increase in the number of women on executive management committees, from 11.1 to 11.6 percent.

“That the number of women in top corporate management has remained almost static since 2002 is cause for serious concern. It indicates that the recruiting base for board members with experience of corporate management is not expanding. The reasons behind this are many and various. Institutional shareholders, corporate managements, personnel departments, universities and university colleges, politicians and we ourselves, as private individuals, have a joint responsibility to utilise the potential represented by recruiting women to corporate managements and boards”, says Lars Idermark, CEO of the Second AP Fund.

A long-term institutional shareholder, the Second AP Fund is committed to the development of corporate governance techniques. The Second AP Fund has measured developments with respect to female representation on boards of directors and corporate managements continuously, since 2002.

“As a long-term asset manager, it is important to us that the companies in which we invest employ all their resources in the best possible way, not least when it comes to women with sought-after skills. The better the recruitment base, the better the boards and managements. These in turn create better companies, which generate enhanced shareholder value”, says Lars Idermark, CEO of the Second AP Fund.

Further details:
For additional information, contact Lars Idermark, CEO, or Carl Rosén, head of Corporate Governance and Communications, on +46 (0)31 704 29 00.

Second AP Fund publishes new corporate governance policy – first corporate governance policy since introduction of new Corporate Governance Code.

The new Corporate Governance Code will be introduced on July 1st. As a consequence, the Second AP Fund has revised its approach to governance issues and developed a new governance policy. The policy is presented in the form of ten governance principles. This policy embraces a number of innovations concerning the principles applied to capital structure, corporate structure, investment, corporate sales and acquisitions and corporate culture.
“The implementation of this new governance policy signals our progress from legal niceties to solid governance issues,” says Lars Idermark, CEO of the Second AP Fund.
For further details, please contact Lars Idermark or the Second AP Fund’s head of Corporate Governance and Communications, Carl Rosén, on +46 (0)31 704 29 00.

The Second Swedish National Pension Fund/AP2 posted a return on investment considerably in excess of the Fund’s long-term target for the financial year 2004.
• The Fund posted a return on total assets of 11.6 percent
• The Fund’s capital assets increased by SEK 17.8 billion
• The Fund posted a net result of SEK 16.1 billion
• The Fund’s capital assets amounted to SEK 158.1 billion as per December 31st 2004

“This good result is primarily attributable to the retention of a high overall allocation of equities, the high ratio of Swedish equities in the portfolio and to the Fund’s limited exposure in foreign currency,” says the Fund’s CEO, Lars Idermark.

“Maintenance of a consistent commitment to our policy of long-term investment has enabled us to report a highly satisfactory result,” continues Lars Idermark.

Read the Year-end report – pdf.

For further information, please call CEO Lars Idermark, or Carl Rosén, Head of Corporate Governance and Communications, on +46 31 704 29 00.

On January 24th 2005, the Second AP Fund sold 40 850 shares in Castellum AB (publ). Prior to this, the Fund’s holding in the company had amounted to 2 171 762 shares, corresponding to 5.05% of voting rights and capital.
After divestment of these shares, the Second AP Fund had a total of 2 130 912 shares, corresponding to 4.96% of voting rights and capital.

Petter Odhnoff
CIO