BELGIUM – Sven Van Wichelen, director of the Belgian pension fund for German chemical giant BASF, is stepping down as of 1 December, the fund has confirmed.

The Antwerp-based fund did not disclose reason for Van Wichelen’s departure. His replacement will be Peter De Meyer.

The defined benefit scheme insures 3,500 BASF employees in Belgium. Its total assets were put at around €325m.

According to IPE’s last records, the fund’s strategic asset allocation entails 50% invested in European fixed income, 30% in international equities and 20% in European equities.

Last month, BASF announced that it would remove €3.7bn in pension liabilities from its balance sheet and fund them via a contractural trust arrangement (CTA) by the end of this year.

Neither BASF’s Belgian fund nor BASF Pensionskasse, its German pension fund, are affected by the revamp.

According to BASF’s 2004 annual report, the asset allocation for the firm’s pension assets – including those from BASF Pensionskasse – was 45% equity, 44% bonds and 9% real estate.

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