BELGIUM - Proximus, the mobile phone subsidiary of Belgacom – the Belgian telecommunications group, has appointed investment managers Fortis and ABN-AMRO for passive and active equity briefs respectively, following the transfer of assets into its fledgling pension fund.

The new fund, created in February this year is expected to receive an initial e15-20m transfer from a current insurance contract held with the Fortis group.

Yearly inflow to the defined benefit (DB) plan is put at around e10m and projected to expand rapidly.

Philip Neyt, director general of the e3.5bn Belgacom pension fund, says a decision has also been taken that the Proximus fund will invest up to 70% of its assets in equities – much higher than the parent Belgacom scheme, noting: “ The duration on the liabilities is much longer than the Belgacom duration.”
“ We are not considering alternative investments here though because the fund is too small,” he adds.

The ABN-AMRO brief will be in global equities, Neyt confirms.

He adds that the transfer of the money into the new fund is being carried out progressively: “ There is still a part of the money from the insurance company that will be transferred in the coming months. It is not being invested in one go. We will invest the second part in September.”


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