GERMANY - Munich-based mechanical engineering group Man AG has received regulatory approval for its Pensionsfond within its contractual trust agreement (CTA).
The German financial services watchdog Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsich (BaFin) granted approval for the Pensionsfonds, a vehicle modelled on Anglo-Saxon pension funds, earlier this week, said a MAN spokesman.
German news reports state the new fund has a volume of €900m, though a spokesman for the DAX index-listed company declined to comment, arguing MAN is not ready yet to divulge further specifics of the fund.
MAN follows the example of energy giant RWE, which set up a Pensionsfonds within its CTA and transferred most of its 40,000 current pensioners along with €4.3m in May this year.
Last year, Siemens also integrated a Pensionsfonds into its CTA.
IPE wrote at the time German companies were increasingly trying to get pension reserves off their balance sheets.
One of the solutions adopted by several listed German companies is to create a pension trust modelled on a CTA.
However, as international companies, both Siemens and RWE figured they have chosen vehicles that can operate cross-border in Europe - a Pensionsfonds.
Siemens currently has only the pension assets of its German-based parent company Siemens AG within this arrangment, but the model might be extended in the future.
A spokesman for BaFin told IPE together with MAN, there are now 26 Pensionsfonds, six of which are occupational Pensionsfonds.
If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Carolyn Bandel on +44 (0)20 7261 4622 or email carolyn.bandel@ipe.com
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