Skip to content
WIHURI FOUNDATION FOR INTERNATIONAL PRIZES

Finances

Sustainable and strategic asset management enables the foundation’s operations, as support for science, the arts, and societal activities is distributed from investment returns. It is important for the foundation that its asset management remains sustainable, not only in terms of returns but also in other aspects.

Principles of Investment Activities

The purpose of Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation’s investment activities is to finance the foundation’s core operations.

In accordance with the foundation’s rules and foundation law, funds are invested systematically to ensure a long-term and steadily growing capacity for awarding grants and prizes. A long-term grant policy requires investment operations to generate a sufficient and stable annual cash flow.

To manage the risks inherent in all investment activities, the foundation’s assets are diversified across different asset classes within the framework of the investment policy approved by the board. The long-term nature of the foundation’s investments ensures that short-term market fluctuations in asset values—and the resulting annual variations in realized returns—do not hinder the foundation’s ability to maintain a consistent and sustainable grant policy.

Sustainable investing

The board of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation has established principles for responsible investing. The foundation places great importance on ensuring that its asset management remains sustainable beyond financial returns.

Environmental considerations, social responsibility, and good governance (ESG) risks and opportunities are assessed and managed as an integral part of the foundation’s investment practices.

The foundation regularly monitors the implementation of responsibility in its investments. Asset managers employed by the foundation report annually on ESG-related aspects across all asset classes. Responsibility must be integrated into investment processes.

The foundation tracks the ESG performance of its publicly traded investments using data from the Sustainalytics ESG database. Based on an external analysis, the ESG risk of Wihuri Foundation’s publicly traded investments was low and below the benchmark index in 2024. This data covers 54% of the foundation’s investment portfolio. The main factors reducing coverage are unlisted alternative investments and direct real estate investments, for which no universally accepted measurement methods for ESG responsibility currently exist.

Market value 560 M €

at the end of 2024

Listed shares and equity funds

67%
Finnish

Listed shares and equity funds

33%
Foreign

Asset Allocation

To manage the risks inherent in all investment activities, the foundation’s assets are diversified across different asset classes within the framework of the board-approved investment policy.

At the end of 2024, about 57% of the foundation’s investments were in liquid assets such as securities, funds, and cash. This means the foundation’s financing and liquidity risk is low.

According to the investment policy, the portfolio was divided as follows at year-end 2024:

  • 49% in listed shares and equity funds
  • 8% in fixed-income instruments
  • 7% in real estate and real estate shares
  • 36% in other alternative investments

Of the listed shares and equity funds, around 67% were Finnish and 33% international. Alternative investments include unlisted private equity, debt, forest, residential, commercial real estate, and infrastructure funds.

The total market value of investments and cash holdings was about EUR 560 million at the end of 2024. In addition, the foundation owns a 22.4% minority shareholding in the unlisted company Wihuri Packaging Oy.

Decision-making

The board of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation is responsible for approving the foundation’s investment policy, which is updated annually.

In accordance with the foundation’s rules and foundation law, asset management is carried out in a structured manner.

The foundation has a Financial Committee, as defined by its rules, consisting of the chairperson of the board, the Executive Director of the Foundation, and two board members appointed annually. This committee implements and monitors the foundation’s investment activities within the framework of the board-approved investment policy. The board receives regular reports on the development of the foundation’s investment portfolio.

The Executive Director acts as the presenter for both the board and the Investment Committee and is responsible for implementing investment decisions.