NETHERLANDS - The three pension funds of the brick-manufacturing industry have chosen pensions provider Cordares as their new pension administrator.

In addition, Cordares will also become responsible for the board support - including monitoring, reporting and legal advice - of the schemes which provide pension benefits to approximately 10,000 participants.

According to schemes' boards, Cordares had made the best overall offer, and can also provide an ‘excellent transition' of their administration.

"After we have had a detailed consultation on the transition, we are satisfied that this complicated process will be carried out in a careful way," Peter de Bruyn, chairman of the three schemes added.

Cordares indicated it has appointed a transition manager who will guide the entire process.

Administration of the pension funds for the brick industry has been carried out by Syntrus Achmea, under a contract which will expire at the end of this year, while the management of the schemes' €77m of assets is carried out by F&C and Syntrus Achmea Vastgoed at present, de Bruyn made clear.

The Stichting Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds voor de Baksteenindustrie, the Stichting Vroegpensioenfonds voor de Baksteenindustrie as well as the Stichting Vrijwillig Vervroegde Uittreding voor de Baksteenindustrie will move their administration as of 1 January 2009, they said.

Cordares is already pensions manager and income insurer to over one million workers in the Netherlands and manages €26bn in assets under management but that figure will grow substantially from 1 September when the firm becomes be part of APG Group, the asset manager of the €205bn civil service scheme ABP.

"The pension schemes for the brick-manufacturing industry are the first which will profit from the combined resources of Cordares and APG," commented Adri van der Wurff, chief executive at Cordares.

"It also shows that we keep on offering our services also to small schemes, which can keep their own individual character."

According to Van der Wurff, Cordares will continue to focus on delivering pensions support to the private sector under the new arrangement, while APG will continue to operate within the public sector.

"We aim to be a dedicated pensions provider for the long-term," stressed Cordares' CEO.

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