NETHERLANDS - The €550m industry-wide pension fund for the packaging industry K&FV has signed a declaration of intent to join the €11.3bn pension fund for the printing and publishing industry PGB.

If its participants council and the supervisors approve the merger, K&FV will transfer its assets and liabilities at the end of the year.

K&FV said joining PGB would increase the likelihood of indexation, while allowing it to lower its contributions for affiliated employers and its 25,600 participants without changing its pension obligation.

PGB said its goal was to further increase its financial base and that the merger with K&FV fit within this strategy, adding that both schemes had a similar age structure.

Cas Broere, chairman at K&FV, said: "Meeting the tightening requirements for expertise and availability of board members, as well as governance, is difficult and expensive.

"PGB's improvement process, through appointing experts on asset and risk management - as well as board members with a professional background - and establishing a board bureau, offers a proper guarantee for a solid governance structure.

"PGB will also allow us to continue the pension plan for our sector and to keep our identity."

Ruud Degenhardt, chairman at PGB, said: "We are aiming for further consolidation, as an increase of scale is necessary for a pension against proper conditions for the longer term."

The coverage ratios at PGB and K&FV at the end of July were 108% and 101.4%, respectively.

Earlier, the pension funds of publishers Wegener and PCM joined the industry-wide scheme, adding €750m and €500m, respectively, to PGB's assets. 

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