Vervoer pension fund’s lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is to be heard in the High Court in London next month, IPE has learned.

Willem Brugman, director of the €15.8bn Dutch transport sector scheme, said that no settlement with GSAM has been reached and that the case will be heard from 3 June. It is expected to last several weeks.

Brugman added that he could not rule out a settlement during the hearing, or after the hearing but before a verdict is passed down by the court.

Vervoer decided to terminate its fiduciary management agreement in 2010 over dissatisfaction with GSAM’s performance. In 2011, it confirmed that Robeco would in future act as its fiduciary manager and in July 2012 the fund confirmed that it would seek damages from GSAM. 

Vervoer’s initial court filing of late summer 2012 accused GSAM of multiple breaches of contract during the asset manager’s time as its fiduciary manager and sought damages of €250m.

GSAM rejected all allegations as “mischievous and wholly unfounded” and argued that Vervoer’s complaints came with “the benefit of perfect hindsight”.

Vervoer has 624,000 members and saw its coverage ratio increase to nearly 113% at the end of March.

A spokeswoman for GSAM declined a request for immediate comment.

Topics