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Henrik Jepsen, chief investment officer at €67 billion Danish pension fund ATP, said it was difficult to know how the new facility would be designed or how the risk profile would look. He told IPE: "In terms of sovereign debt, we believe these investments can do well when the risky assets are doing poorly. As a result, we have to make sure we are not embedding too much credit risk into that part of our portfolio."
Jaime Martínez Gómez, chief investment officer at Spanish pension fund Fonditel Pensiones – which manages three individual pension plans and three corporate plans representing a total of €3.4 billion of assets – largely agreed, saying it currently had no plans to invest in the EFSF due to the lack of details on its ultimate structure. But Charles Vaquier, chief executive at €5.2 billion French pension scheme UMR Corem, insisted that the fund's establishment was imperative for the stabilisation of the eurozone, regardless of Greece's situation. He told IPE: "Whether or not Greece will adopt the new bailout plan, the EFSF should be set up to help other countries such as Spain, Portugal or Italy in the future, as they could also need a financial support". "The facility would also help to stabilise financial markets and give investors faith in the eurozone."
Vaquier said it was European pension funds' duty to invest in the EFSF, should the facility ultimately be launched. "Long-term investors in Europe have a civic duty", he said.
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