Germany’s largest pension fund, Bayerische Versorgungskammer, with assets under management worth €107.3bn, has transferred fund of fund assets worth €83bn to the new capital management company UI BVK KVG set up by Universal Investment, it was announced today.

The assets moved to the new capital management company were held in a fund of funds managed as securities Spezialfonds by Universal Investment on behalf of BVK. The fund will complete the transfer of assets from the Spezialfonds in the summer of next year.

The €83bn in assets were moved to the new capital management company, specifically founded by Universal Investment to manage BVK’s assets, on 1 November, after receiving approval from the German financial supervisory authority BaFin.

According to an announcement earlier this year, BVK planned to offload assets worth €75bn into a new management company set up by Universal Investment to support and further develop the strategic asset allocation of BVK and its 12 pension schemes, the pension fund said at the time.

Stefan Rockel, co-chief executive officer of the UI BVK KVG, along with Mathias Wilhelm, said: “We are very happy that we managed to implement this very large and complex transfer of funds as planned, despite the volatile market environment. Another fund package of BVK will be transferred to the [new capital management] company at the beginning of 2023.”

UI BVK KVG will hold a total €150bn in assets under administration that will be invested via fund of funds and other investment funds, also including alternatives.

The new company plans to grow assets by 50% in the next few years through the reallocation of direct holdings to alternative investment funds.

Daniel Just, CEO of BVK, added: “We have trusted Universal Investment for more than 20 years and are pleased to be able to continue to benefit from the know-how of institutional capital investments with UI BVK KVG.”

External asset managers will continue to manage BVK’s funds.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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