Mikael Huldt, Head of Asset Management & CIO

Current Role & Responsibilities

Mikael Huldt serves as Head of Asset Management and Chief Investment Officer at Afa Försäkring, overseeing approximately SEK 230 billion in assets under management across various investment categories.

He took on the role as CIO in 2024. Having joined the firm in 2015 as Head of Alternative Investments, he still described himself as “something of a rookie” in a 2025 interview, noting that people tend to stay a very long time at Afa Försäkring, the average tenure being more than 11 years.

His CIO duties involve overall portfolio responsibility, participation in the corporate management team, involvement in operational matters, and driving strategic development. Since December 2025, Huldt is also deputy CEO of Afa Försäkring alongside CEO Mathias Collén.

Appointment as Head of Asset Management (2023)

In May 2023 it was announced that Huldt would assume the position of Head of Asset Management at the Swedish insurance company in November, replacing Johan Held, who was retiring. He had served as Afa Försäkring’s Head of Alternative Investments for seven and a half years, overseeing investments in unlisted shares, loans, and infrastructure assets.

On the appointment, Huldt stated: “I am greatly looking forward to the exciting opportunity and challenge of leading Afa Försäkring’s successful and responsible capital management while contributing to the social security system in Sweden. The current market situation, with geopolitical unrest, high inflation, and rising interest rates, is difficult to navigate and quite uncertain in many ways. That is why I also take on the task with great humility.”

Career Background

Mikael’s career began as an Associate at Mannheimer Swartling, focusing on private equity, and included military service as a Captain in the Swedish 1st Marine Regiment.

Prior to joining Afa Försäkring in November 2015, he held the position of Head of Alternative Investments at Kåpan Pensioner for just over two years, and before that worked as a Senior Portfolio Manager in alternative investments at AP3 (Tredje AP-fonden) for nine and a half years.

He holds exchange studies in a Master of Laws (LL.M.) program in Corporate Law from the University of Western Ontario (2000–2001).

Board Memberships

Mikael Huldt serves as an External Member on the board of SEB Investment Management AB, in his capacity as Head of Asset Management at Afa Försäkring. He has previously served on the boards of Midstar Hotels AB and Profi III InfraCity AB.

Investment Philosophy & Strategy Views

On alternatives and private equity:
Notwithstanding high valuations, Afa Försäkring has been open to expanding its illiquid alternatives allocation from around 12%, particularly in infrastructure, which it only started allocating to in 2019. “The infrastructure allocation is seeking to get a well-diversified exposure by geography and sector, and focuses on areas that have a demonstrable resilience in surviving crises,” Huldt noted.

On manager sizing, Huldt observed that larger managers can access more interesting deal-flow in private debt, while for private equity, the small to mid-market tends to be more attractive, since smaller deals are harder to access and larger ones are more competitive and typically more correlated with public markets. (Nordic Investor, 2021)

On private debt / direct lending:
AFA made its first investments into private debt around 2007–2008. Huldt created a private debt bucket amounting to approximately 3% of the portfolio (around SEK 6 billion), designed as a low return/low risk component in a barbell strategy, with private equity on the other end. The long-term return target for the private debt portfolio is 6–7%.

His thesis for direct lending was driven by banking regulation changes: “My conclusion was that banks will find it harder to lend to small and mid-sized companies under the new regulations. They want to work more as syndication partners, which has been a long-lasting trend in the US. In Europe, the banks are still the major lenders, but that will likely change.” (HedgeNordic, 2018)

On sustainability reporting requirements in private assets:
“In most private markets, we are investing for the long term, beyond a 10-year time horizon, and this dynamic changes the nature of the investment process compared to other markets. I think Niclas puts it well: how can we ask our managers to provide us reporting over the next 10 years when we don’t know what we’re going to be requiring? It is impossible,” he laments. It needs to be a dialogue, with mutual f lexibility, Huldt argues. “We need to work together. Let us solve the equation together. We cannot formalise the question and present it in terms of bullet points. We cannot make it mandatory to report specific data because in three or five years, this data may be obsolete. Then we might need different data points and those won’t have been included in the initial agreement. Instead, we should be setting the tone initially, and having a consensus around the direction we want to pursue together. This is the level of transparency and the level of communication that is important to us. Being too formalistic and trying to box it down, that doesn’t work.” (NordSIP, Sustainable Private Assets Report, 2022)

On portfolio management today (2025):
As recently as early 2025, Huldt discussed his holistic and tactical approach to portfolio management at Afa Försäkring in the Nordic trade press, emphasising a more opportunistic stance.

Notable Quotes in the Press

“This is a very strange macro environment. There is huge stimulus from fiscal and monetary policy, and everything is on steroids, with valuations stretched, in public and private markets. Massive inflows of capital into private markets in general are creating bubbles pretty much everywhere.” (Nordic Investor, 2021)

“One cannot lose sight of risk and returns on an absolute basis. The expected future returns for some strategies and asset classes may be meaningfully lower than historical. Operational risks tied to alternatives are easy to underestimate, especially for new entrants.” (HedgeNordic, 2020)

Press Sources:
HedgeNordic – multiple articles (2018, 2020, 2023)
NordSip – Round table: Sustainable Private Assets (June 2022)
NordicInvestor / Nordic-AM – interviews focused on alternatives (2022, 2021)
Insurance Investor – interviews on ESG, infrastructure debt, and risk management
Tell Media Group – CIO profile (March 2025) paywalled
Afa Försäkring official press releases – appointment announcements