GERMANY - The German arm of Swedish energy giant Vattenfall has initiated a search for actuarial and pensions consultancy services.

Vattenfall, which employs nearly 21,000 employees in Germany, said firms providing these services must make their pitches in German. 

According to Vattenfall, the search will be completed on December 29. The contact person for the search is Karin Friedel, who is part of the firm's finance department.

Actuarial and pensions advisory firms in Germany that could bid for the mandate include Heissmann, Heubeck AG, Bode Hewitt, Towers Perrin, Watson Wyatt and Mercer.

At the end of 2005, Vattenfall had €3.2bn worth of pension liabilities from its German operations. Of the total, €1.2bn was financed via an external fund, while another €2bn was financed via book reserves on its balance sheet.

Vattenfall's German arm is the nation's third-largest supplier of power. In 2005, it had net profit of €726m on sales of €10.5bn.