Since early 2025, the Swedish pension fund Alecta has sold $7.7–$8.8 billion in U.S. Treasuries. One day earlier, Danish fund AkademikerPension said it would exit about $100 million in U.S. Treasuries.
Pablo Bernengo confirmed the reductions were staged and represent most of the fund’s holdings. “Since the beginning of 2025, we have reduced our holdings in U.S. government bonds in several rounds, and together the reductions account for the majority of our holdings.”
Anders Schelde, chief investment officer at AkademikerPension, said U.S. government finances looked unsustainable. “The US is basically not a good credit and long-term the US government finances are not sustainable.”
Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, dismissed the moves at Davos. “Denmark’s investment in U.S. Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant. That is less than $100 million. They’ve been selling Treasurys for years, I’m not concerned at all.”
Alecta manages about $110 billion, and Europe holds roughly $8 trillion in U.S. assets. Both funds said fiscal risks, not political retaliation, drove their choices amid rising tensions (Ed. note: This scale makes the Alecta move notable among European pension funds.).
