Kenfo

Anja Mikus serves as both CEO and CIO, leading investment strategy since the fund's 2017 inception. Verena Kempe heads Investment Management, overseeing portfolio execution. The Board of Trustees, chaired by Thorsten Herdan, provides governance, while the Federal Ministry of Finance issues binding investment guidelines that frame the fund's risk budget and asset-class parameters.

Kenfo was capitalized with roughly €24 billion transferred from Germany's four nuclear power plant operators — E.ON, RWE, EnBW, and Vattenfall — in 2017 under the Nuclear Waste Disposal Financing Act. The operators paid this lump sum to the state in exchange for being released from future interim and final nuclear waste storage liabilities, which Kenfo must finance indefinitely.

Kenfo invests through a mix of direct fund commitments, co-investments, and secondary transactions across private equity, infrastructure, and real estate. The fund-building phase has prioritized fund relationships and co-investment access, with an increasing allocation to direct real estate strategies including US, UK, and German REIT portfolios and a Pan-European commercial property strategy.

Kenfo was the first sovereign wealth fund globally to join the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, committing to a climate-neutral portfolio by 2050. It is also a signatory to the UN Global Compact and the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. The fund's investment guidelines require ESG integration across asset classes, with particular focus on the emissions profile of its infrastructure and real estate holdings.

Kenfo is the only sovereign wealth fund in the world created solely to finance a specific environmental liability — Germany's nuclear waste disposal. Unlike stabilization funds or inter-generational savings funds, Kenfo invests against a defined actuarial obligation with an extremely long-duration liability profile. This liability-driven mandate pushes the portfolio toward illiquid, income-generating assets more heavily than typical multi-purpose sovereign funds.

Kenfo participates in co-investment opportunities alongside its private equity and infrastructure fund managers, using its direct relationships to deploy additional capital without the fee drag of primary fund commitments. The fund's institutional credibility — as a state entity with a permanent liability — gives it preferred co-investor status with several large European and global general partners.

The Federal Ministry of Finance provides legal oversight and issues the investment guidelines that define Kenfo's permissible activities. However, the fund operates with investment independence on day-to-day portfolio decisions. The Board of Trustees, chaired by Thorsten Herdan, provides governance oversight, while the Advisory Board — which includes former AP4 CEO Mats Andersson — contributes institutional investment expertise.