Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Länder (VBL), the €65bn German supplementary pension provider for public sector employees, will face a court ruling on the transparency of its investments.
The Karlsruhe Administrative Court has scheduled a hearing for 16 July, newspaper Börsen‑Zeitung reported, citing a court spokesperson.
VBL is defending itself against allegations that it has declined to disclose detailed asset allocation information.
In a statement, the pension fund said the law governing occupational pension schemes – including VBL – already imposes extensive disclosure obligations regarding asset allocation.
“VBL fully complies with these regulatory requirements,” it added.
The lawsuit seeks to compel VBL to publish more granular information on its investment portfolio, however, VBL argues that the plaintiff is not entitled to such details.
The fund was sued in January 2023 by Arne Semsrott, a member of the Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland, an NGO that campaigns for freedom of information via the ‘Frag der Staat’ platform.
The plaintiff is requesting access to “official information” on VBL’s investment and ESG policy and to the “official records” that the scheme uses to meet its public duty of managing supplementary pensions for public sector employees, according to the lawsuit.
VBL has faced previous calls for greater transparency from SustainVBL, a group of current and former members of the pension fund. Germany’s far‑left party Die Linke also submitted a parliamentary inquiry, asking VBL to disclose details of a high‑risk loan to German Invest, a subsidiary of real estate firm Aggregate.
In its parliamentary reply, VBL confirmed that, since 2021, it has held a bond issued by German Invest, indirectly via investment funds.
It argued, however, that disclosing details of that investment or its plans for managing the bond would risk advantaging competitors and harming its market position if it chose to divest. Such disclosure, VBL said, could jeopardise its ability to function as a pension institution professionally managing capital investments.
VBL also said it continues to expand its alternatives asset allocation to enhance portfolio diversification.
It will boost private equity and private debt investments, chief investment officer Michael Leinwand told IPE.
Under its strategic asset allocation, the pension fund aims this year to allocate 1.8% of total assets to private equity and a further 2% to infrastructure.
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