Fondo Pensione Nazionale BCC-CRA, the pension fund for the employees of Italian co-operative banks, has started to divest from private markets on the secondary market to create a liquid buffer to fend off market volatility.

The pension fund divested from two private equity, two private debt and two real estate funds, for a total net income of €102.5m (26% on invested capital), it said in its financial statement for 2022.

It sold its holdings in the Hamilton Lane Private Equity Fund IX, the Wisequity iV fund managed by Wise, Permira’s direct lending mid-market fund Credit Solutions IV Master Euro, Hamilton Lane’s private debt Strategic Opportunities Fund IV, the InfraRed Infrastructure Fund V,  and in the Ancala Infrastructure Fund II.

Private equity gave a positive contribution to overall performance in 2022, driven by a significant increase in cash inflows (169%) compared with 2021. The scheme has decided to extend the duration of the private equity fund Sinaergia II managed by Synergy Capital for a further 12 months until 20 July this year.

The pension fund also decided to invest €5m in the Eterna blockchain fund II, adding five companies active in the space to its portfolio last year.

Its private debt and real estate portfolios also made a positive contribution to the scheme’s overall performance last year, BCC-CRA said.

Assets under management decreased year-on-year in 2022 to €2.71bn, from €2.83bn in 2021, with the sub-fund Raccolta returning -5.84%, the sub-fund Crescita -7.13%, and the sub-fund Semina -7.56%, according to the financial statement.

The severance pay sub-fund TFR Tacito, mostly invested in government bonds (approximately 64.4%), investment grade corporate bonds (approximately 30.6%) and fund units (approximately 5%) returned 1.92%, against an appreciation based on consumer price of 8.28%.

The amount of assets managed by external managers is close to 56% of the total, or €1.52bn.

New members join Fondo Priamo

The number of members enrolled in Fondo Priamo, Italy’s second-pillar pension fund for employees in the public transport sector, increased year-on-year in 2022 by 3.1% to 115,803.

The amount of contributions also grew during the year by 7.27%, amounting to a total of € 258m. It paid benefits for a total of €135m, with assets under management amounting to €1.91bn.

Last year, the garantito sub-fund returned -1.1%, the obbligazionario misto -5.6% and the bilanciato sub-fund -10.1%, it said.

Pension fund president Matteo Colamussi said: “The new governance [structure of the pension fund] stablished in May 2022 intends to redefine the organisational structure, with the aim of defining, in an even more precise way, the tasks, functions, powers and responsibilities.”

Enpaia cuts real estate investments

Enpaia, the pension fund for workers in the agricultural sector, sold real estate properties worth €46m last year, despite the slowdown in the real estate market, it said commenting in its financial report for 2022.

The pension fund made gross capital gains of around €24m from the divestment, targeting net returns in the asset class of 3%, from the current 1%.

Last year, the scheme invested a total of around €755m, making divestments of close to €591m. It generated a net return of 4.55%, a slight decrease compared with 4.79% recorded in 2021, it added. Profits totaled €10.6m.

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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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