German Spezialfonds, an investment vehicle open only to institutional investors including pension funds, are in the midst of their worst period in terms of capital inflows and outflows since the financial crisis 2008/2009.

According to a quarterly report published by consultancy Kommalpha, in the third quarter of this year, Spezialfonds received net cash inflows of €1.7bn in July, but in August and September stood at almost the same amount, so that “net new business” amounted to only €45m.

The situation in terms of net inflows in Spezialfonds is the worst it has been since the financial crisis of 2008/2009, but it is not due to fresh liquidity, Kommalpha’s managing director Clemens Schuerhoff wrote in the introduction to the quarterly report.

In 2008 and 2009, at the height of the financial crisis, Spezialfonds recorded three quarters of net cash outflows, but since then net inflows have been clearly positive in every quarter and mostly in the double-digit billion range, Kommalpha said in the report.

Insurance companies and corporates are two groups of investors responsible for the poor net inflows into Spezialfonds in Q3 2024, according to the report. Corporates withdrew over €5bn net from Spezialfonds mandates in Q3, despite the slightly positive net inflows of funds in July, it stated.

Insurance companies reported negative net cash flows of €4bn in the quarter under review, which saw “two very bad months” but almost €500m collected by Spezialfonds, net, in August, it added.

Spezialfonds of pension schemes, social insurance and public/church supplementary pension schemes recorded positive net inflows, each totalling well over €3bn, the report showed.

Kommalpha said the trend of positive inflows to Spezialfonds coming from institutions such as pension funds and insurers is over.

However, pension funds and insurance companies in particular injected significant amounts of cash into Spezialfonds in Q3 – some €13bn, with a peak of €5.8bn in September – according to the quarterly report.

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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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