- Norway's KLP has launched KLP Likviditet Pluss, an actively managed fixed income fund aimed at investors seeking a higher expected return than a traditional liquidity fund while retaining relatively low risk.

The fund is designed for investors with a time horizon of at least 12 months and will invest in Norwegian fixed income securities across banks, industry, real estate, power, and municipalities. Up to 10 per cent may be invested in subordinated loan capital issued by financial institutions, while up to 25 per cent may be held in fixed-term bank deposits. KLP said the fund would sit between KLP Likviditet and KLP FRN in terms of risk, with an expected excess return of around 0.20 to 0.25 percentage points a year compared with a low-risk liquidity fund. The launch follows changes to Norwegian tax rules from 2026, under which returns in fixed income funds can accumulate until units are sold, rather than being taxed annually.

- Denmark's PFA has committed DKK 350m to private equity manager Axcel’s latest fund, Axcel VIII, which will invest in medium-sized companies in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe across sectors including technology, industry and healthcare.

Axcel VIII has total commitments of €2.1bn, equivalent to around DKK 15.7bn. PFA said the investment would give its customers exposure to a diversified portfolio of growth companies while spreading risk across multiple businesses. PFA head of alternative investments, Peter Tind, claimed the fund provided access to companies with “good growth opportunities”, while acknowledging the higher investment risk associated with the asset class. The investment forms part of PFA’s wider unlisted portfolio and its ambition to have DKK 500bn invested in Europe by 2030. PFA currently has around DKK 400bn invested across Europe.

- The VBV Group has confirmed a series of independent certifications covering information security, business continuity, artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental management, including ISO 42001:2023 for its AI management system.

VBV said this made it one of the first companies in Austria to achieve the AI management standard, which is intended to support the responsible, transparent and compliant use of artificial intelligence. The group also holds ISO 27001:2022 for information security and ISO 22301:2019 for business continuity management, while it has recently completed recertification audits under EMAS and ISO 14001 for environmental management. VBV Group executive board member and chief operating officer, Ronald Laszlo, said the certifications demonstrated that the group approached “safety, resilience, innovation and sustainability in an integrated way”, adding that such standards were becoming increasingly important competitive factors.

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