Ex-AP4 bond trader Erlandsson quits planned climate hedge fund

Ulf Erlandsson has resigned from climate hedge fund Glacier Impact, citing “differences of opinion” on how the fund should be run.

The former Senior Portfolio Manager of Global Macro Trading at AP4 left the pension fund last year to join Swedish investment firm Strukturinvest as Chief Investment Officer of Glacier Impact – its new credit-based hedge fund strategy focused on climate change, which was slated to be launched earlier this year.

However, Erlandsson told RI that there had been “differences in opinion on the structural set-up of the funds I worked with, which we unfortunately were not able to resolve”, adding: “Such things happen in this business”.

As a result, he will leave by mid-December, and currently has no other position lined up. “I keep an open mind,” he said.

Erlandsson was involved in the creation of a conventional, non-climate focused credit hedge fund at Stukturinvest but said he was “not in a position to comment on plans for the [climate-focused] strategy at this stage”.Glacier Impact’s dedicated website was offline at the time of publication, as was Strukturinvest’s description of the fund on its own website.

“Differences in opinion on the structural set-up of the funds” caused split, says Erlandsson

At the time of marketing, Glacier Impact was described as a credit hedge fund that will use carbon efficient long/short strategies, in addition to buying green bonds – an approach influenced by Erlandsson’s thesis on measuring carbon exposure in bond portfolios, known as Ecobar. It was expected to target annual returns of between 4% and 5%.

“I think there are quite compelling arguments as to why the concept could work,” said Erlandsson. “To be honest, I also believe it is crucial for taking climate investing in fixed-income to the necessary impact level.”