GLOBAL - Multinational food group Nestlé, which has a 6.2 billion-Swiss franc (3.8 billion-euro) pension fund says it is “very seriously” considering Ireland’s tax-transparent pension vehicle Common Contractual Fund, or CCF.

Jean-Pierre Steiner, director of corporate pension and risk services, told IPE that Nestlé’s pension fund, one of the largest in Switzerland, had approached the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority to launch four funds in Ireland.

He said the funds were not pooled thorough a CCF, the tax transparent vehicle launched in Ireland in 2003 to enable companies to pool pension assets.

Nestlé has not yet pooled assets through a CCF, but Steiner added the firm had “a number of funds” in Ireland and it would be “much easier” to establish CCFs in Ireland than Luxembourg, where a similar pension vehicle, Fonds Commun de Placement, is also available.

Steiner added Nestlé is aware of non-UCITS CCFs, which would allow investments in alternative classes like hedge funds. The Irish parliament is likely to consider a non-UCITS form after the summer break.

“We are aware of it. No particular plan to use them for the time being, but...” he stated.

In July Ireland’s Investment and Development Agency IDA said a UK insurance company, as well as a multinational company, were in the process of applying to launch a CCF.

Sean Langdon, business development manager for financial services at the IDA, declined to name the companies but said that the CCF launched by Deutsche Asset Management in May, Deutsche GlobalSpectrum Common Contractual Fund, was “up and running”.

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