The Swedish Fund Selection Agency, FTN gives notice of the procurement of actively managed global equity funds

Currently, 45 actively managed global equity funds are on the premium pension fund platform, mainly in two fund categories; Global and Global & Sweden. The procurement covers all global equity funds, including those with a geographical weight to the Swedish market. The procurement covers over SEK 200 billion in pension capital and affects approximately 1 million pension savers*.

‘The procurement of global equities is our largest to date and global equity funds are an important component of many people's long-term savings. We know that we have a process that works and I hope that all fund managers with competitive funds will submit tenders thereby creating the conditions for safer and higher pensions for Sweden's pension savers’, says Erik Fransson, executive director of FTN.

FTN presented its preliminary procurement specifications on 26 September 2024, allowing potential tenderers to submit questions and comments. The procurement specifications published today clarify that FTN intends to procure funds that promote sustainability, reporting under SFDR Article 8 during this procurement phase, while plans to procure Article 9 funds will be addressed at a later stage. The specifications do not contain any significant differences from the preliminary. Further information can be found in the procurement documentation.

The fund agreements for the affiliated funds impacted by the procurement will be cancelled. However, these funds will remain available for trading on the fund platform until the procurement process is finalized and new fund agreements are awarded.

Tenders must be complete

The notice of procurement issued today, 4 November 2024, indicates that fund managers now can submit tenders. All tenders must be received by FTN by 16 December 2024 via the e-Avrop procurement platform. Participation in the procurement requires the payment of a tender fee, which must be paid at the latest when the tender is submitted.

To be evaluated by FTN, the fund and the fund manager must meet the requirements outlined in the procurement, as well as the criteria for signing a fund agreement with FTN. Additionally, all submitted tenders must contain complete and accurate information. All tenderers will be treated equally, and no information regarding the procurement will be shared with individual tenderers. Further information can be found in the procurement documentation.

The deadline for submitting tenders is 16 December 2024. Fund Managers have the opportunity to ask questions about the procurement via e-Avrop until 6 December and FTN will answer questions on an ongoing basis until 10 December 2024.

Important about tenders:

- Tenders must be submitted via the e-Avrop procurement platform: www.e-avrop.com External link.
- A profile on e-Avrop is required to submit a tender
- The deadline for submitting tenders is 16 December 2024, 23:59 (CET)
- Questions about the procurement can be submitted through e-Avrop

Please note that documents submitted to an authority, such as tenders, are public documents and may therefore be disclosed in their entirety if someone requests access to them. However, information protected by confidentiality will not be disclosed. It is therefore important that the fund manager indicates which parts of the material submitted in the tender it considers should be covered by confidentiality, together with a description of how the fund manager would risk being prejudiced if the information were publicly disclosed. FTN will also make an independent confidentiality assessment which may be subject to judicial review.

* Fund data and the number of savers as of 30 September 2024. There is no guarantee that the procured volume will match the current volume or number of savers.