After six years serving as chief executive of AP Pension, Denmark’s third largest pension fund, Søren Dal Thomsen will be stepping down as CEO effective immediately.

Under Thomsen’s tenure, the DKK96 billion (US$14.59 billion) AP Pension has been a dynamic agricultural investor. In January 2014 the fund launched the Dansk Farmland Fund as an investment vehicle focused on farmland. Under the structure of the fund, land would be leased back to farming operators under long-term contracts who would pay AP Pension rent equivalent to 5.2% of the total investment in the land and 6.5% of the amount invested in the buildings while keeping all business profits.

In April of this year AP Pension entered into a US$57 million deal to buy farmland in Eastern Romania under a lease-back agreement with the seller, FirstFarms. Under the terms of the deal, AP Pension will acquire FirstFarms’ operations in Eastern Romania including 3,000 hectares of agricultural land, grain storage, and farm buildings, but not including an existing machinery park which will be retained by FirstFarms for use in the operation of the farms. The land and buildings will be rented by FirstFarms under a ten-year lease including an option to extend the term of the lease, however, at the end of the term, FirstFarm will have the option to buy back the land.

“We intend to purchase land in Romania, as we believe there is a large potential for increase in the value of the land. While working on this, we will get a continuous return in the form of land rent from FirstFarms,”  said Thomsen at the time.

Most recently, in mid-November AP Pension announced that it will commit its support to the DKK 2 billion, (€269 million, US$293 million) Danish Agriculture Capital fund being launched by the country’s Ministry of Business and Growth with the goal of providing debt financing to Denmark’s farmers.

 

Career with AP Pension

Søren Dal Thomsen joined AP Pension’s Executive Board in December 2006 and has served as the fund’s CEO since November 2010. However, following discussions with the leadership of AP Pension’s supervisory board, Thomsen announced his surprising departure.

“After a dialogue with the supervisory board leadership, and guidance to the supervisory board on which skills AP Pension would need in the future, I reached the decision to look for new challenges,” said Thomsen reports Investments & Pensions Europe.

Although Thomsen will leave his position as CEO immediately, he will be available to the Board until the close of the year.

In his place, the Board has appointed Bo Normann Rasmussen as new chief executive, and has tasked him with evaluating the future direction of the company’s new leadership.

“We have greatly appreciated Søren Dal Thomsen’s ability to see new opportunities commercially and in an investment environment where low interest rates for years has made it extremely challenging to achieve satisfactory returns,” said Niels Dengsø Jensen, chairman of the Board of AP Pension in a company statement.” We wish Søren Dal Thomsen all the best of luck forward-looking.”