EUROPE – German pension fund Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe (AeVWL) won the award for Best Real Estate Investing at the twelfth annual IPE Pension Fund Awards in Copenhagen on Thursday evening.

PensionDanmark was the big winner, scooping up the Denmark Country Award, the Silver Award for Best Industry-wide Pension Fund and the Gold Award for Best European Pension Fund.

Lars Rohde – the longstanding chief executive at ATP who is to become the next governor of the Danish central bank – won this year's gong for Outstanding Industry Contribution, while Geraldine Leegwater, CIO at ABN AMRO Pensioenfonds in the Netherlands, was voted Pension Fund Personality of the Year.

The final Gold Award, for the best long-term investment strategy, went to the UK's Pension Protection Fund, which also won the award for Liability-Driven Investment.

Clwyd Pension Fund in Wales, which also did well on the night, won the Silver Award for Best Public Pension Fund, as well as the Bronze Award for Alternatives Investing.

ERAFP also took home two prizes, winning the France Country Award and the ESG/Corporate Governance Award, as did SPK-Sparinstitutens Pensionskassa, which landed the Sweden Country Award and the Innovation Award.

The other two Silver Awards went to Skanska Trean Allmän Pensionsstiftelse, voted Best Corporate Pension Fund, and the Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan, voted Best Small Pension Fund.
 
The remaining Bronze Awards went to Austria's APK Pensionskasse AG for Fixed Income Investing and Denmark's PKA for Equities Investing.
   

The full list of winners for the IPE Awards 2012

 

Gold Awards            
Best European Pension Fund: PensionDanmark   
Outstanding Industry Contribution: Lars Rohde   
Pension Fund Personality of the Year: Geraldine Leegwater   
Long-Term Investment Strategy: Pension Protection Fund

 

Silver Awards    
Best Public Pension Fund: Clwyd Pension Fund   
Best Industry-wide Pension Fund: PensionDanmark   
Best Corporate Pension Fund: Skanska Trean Allmän Pensionsstiftelse   
Best Small Pension Fund: Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan

 

Bronze Awards       
Fixed Income Investing: APK Pensionskasse AG   
Equities Investing: PKA   
Alternatives Investing: Clwyd Pension Fund

 

Country Awards       
Austria: fair-finance Vorsorgekasse AG   
Belgium: Pensioenfonds KBC   
Central & Eastern Europe: Swedbank Pension Fund K3 (Growth Strategy)
Denmark: PensionDanmark   
Finland: Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company   
France: ERAFP   
Germany (bAV): Bosch Pensionsfonds AG    
Germany (Versorgungswerk): WPV    
Ireland: Construction Workers' Pension Scheme   
Italy: PensPlan Pension Funds   
Netherlands: Pensioenfonds ING   
Norway: Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS   
Portugal: Fundo de Pensões Aberto BPI Valorização   
Spain: Pensions Caixa 30, FP    
Sweden: SPK-Sparinstitutens Pensionskassa   
Switzerland: Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch   
United Kingdom: Trafalgar House Pension Trust   
Small Countries: Hotel Employees Provident Fund

 

Themed Awards       
Alternative Benchmarks: PKA
Commodities Investing: APG All Pensions Group   
DC Structures & Hybrids: NEST (National Employment Savings Trust)   
Emerging Markets Investing: Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund   
ESG/Corporate Governance: ERAFP   
Hedge Funds Investing: Tapiola Mutual Pension Insurance Company
In-house Team/Pensions-owned Asset Manager: British Steel Pension Fund   
Innovation: SPK-Sparinstitutens Pensionskassa   
Liability-Driven Investment: Pension Protection Fund   
Real Estate Investing: Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe   
Risk Management Solutions: CERN Pension Fund   
Use of Specialist Managers: Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund