Icelandic pension funds Almenni and Lífsverk have announced they are in talks to merge, saying that a consolidation of their operations would create the fifth-largest pension fund in the country.
In an announcement posted on both their websites, the pension funds said: “The boards of Almenni and Lífsverk have signed a letter of intent to begin formal talks on a possible merger of the funds.”
“The goal is to examine whether a merger would improve the welfare of fund members and strengthen the operations of the funds for the future,” they said this week.
If the merger were to occur, the pension funds said, the resulting fund would be the fifth-largest pension fund in the country, with total assets of ISK667bn (€4.68bn) based on assets at the end of last year.
Almenni Pension Fund, whose name means General Pension Fund, is the larger of the two with ISK477bn (€3.3bn) of total assets at the end of 2024, while Lífsverk – which is open to all university graduates – had total assets of ISK167.8bn at the end of 2023, according to its latest annual report.
The merged fund would leapfrog Frjálsi in the Icelandic pension fund size ranking, pushing Frjálsi down to sixth place.
“Negotiations are at an early stage but are aimed at being completed before the summer,” Almenni and Lífsverk said.
If they do agree, the two funds said statutory fund member meetings would be called, at which a proposal for a merger would be submitted for a vote in accordance with the articles of association of each fund.
Almenni and Lífsverk said further information would be presented at their annual general meetings, with the former holding its AGM on 3 April and the latter on 8 April.
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