Sweden’s Fjärda AP-Fonden (AP4) has accepted the public offer to shareholders of Oriflame, the government pension fund announced.

AP4 is already the second largest owner of Oriflame, a Swedish cosmetics company, and the offer was disputed as the pension fund initially did not think it represented the full potential.

However, in light of the current challenging situation in significant markets such as China, Indonesia and Vietnam, AP4 announced that it made the assessment that the offer is on a fair level in a short-term perspective.

Commenting in a statement, AP4 head of fundamental equities Per Colleen said Oriflame, with its geographical exposure, is a “fairly unique company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange”.

“This has meant that the company has had periods of both very strong growth as well as periods of significant challenges. As a long-term investor, AP4 has accepted the volatility based on our confidence in the business model of the company as well as the company’s ability to adjust to changing conditions.

“At the same time”, Colleen noted, “we observe that the stock market in general has had difficulties to apply a long-term perspective on Oriflame”.

In the press release, AP4 said it has a positive view of the company’s ability to handle the current challenges. It also believes that in a long-term perspective AP4 views the offer level not reflecting the full potential.

The offer made to the shareholders, which has now been approved, is a cash offer of 227 SEK per share. AP4 owns approximately 5.6 million shares in Oriflame, representing 9.9 per cent of votes and capital.

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