NETHERLANDS - The occupational pension fund for dentists and dentist specialists SPT has granted its participants an indexation of 1.6%.

According to the €1.4bn scheme, the indexation is equal to the consumer's price index between 1 October 2006 and 1 October 2007.

SPT's indexation policy is conditional and therefore subject to the financial position of the scheme and no financial reservations have been made for inflation compensation, it made clear.

The dentists' scheme reported overall returns of 5.8% during 2006, after fully hedging its interest and currency risks and in part hedging its equity exposure, and its coverage ratio was 117.5%.

The scheme's asset mix consisted of 43.4% in fixed income, 43.7% in equity and 7% in convertible bonds while the remaining assets were divided into loans (3%), options (1.6%), deposits (0.4%) and currency forward transactions (1.1%).

The pension fund's strategic asset mix is 50% fixed income, 40% equity and 10% convertible bonds.

However, after an evaluation of its investment policy, and mainly because of risk hedging, SPT decided to decrease its investments in convertible bonds, it said.

SPT's administration and pension provision is managed by Heerlen-based AZL.

The occupational scheme had 7,789 participants at the end of 2006, of whom 5,442  are active dentists and 2,347 are pensioners and surviving relatives.