GERMANY – Rauser Towers Perrin has further expanded its presence in Germany’s occupational pensions market by teaming up with Gassner and Partners, a Stuttgart-based pensions and actuarial advisor.

RTP said it would exclusively co-operate with Gassner in “all areas of occupational pensions advising” save Gassner’s core business of actuarial services.

With 19 employees, Gassner advises several companies traded on Germany’s Dax and MDax share indices as well as small- to midsize enterprises (SMEs). Pension funds, including the traditional Pensionskassen and Versorgungswerke, which serve specific professional trades, also are among the firm’s clients.

Rainer Wurzberger, RTP board executive in charge of occupational pensions, said: “As a result of the firm’s know-how with respect to Pensionskassen and Versorgungswerke, Gassner and Partner rounds out the spectrum of our clients.”

RTP’s co-operation with Gassner comes nearly a year after Towers Perrin acquired Rauser AG, a Reutlingen-based occupational pensions advisor, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition transformed US-based Towers Perrin, which had previously specialised in human resource consulting, into one of Germany’s biggest occupational pension consultants.

Since the deal, Towers Perrin has won several high-profile mandates, including advising on contractual trust arrangements (CTAs) for German engineering giant MAN and DZ Bank, a central bank for German co-operative banks. CTAs are external funds set up to finance pension liabilities.

But Tower Perrin’s international rivals have been equally as active in the German market since the start of 2005.

Shortly before Towers Perrin bought Rauser, Hewitt Associates established a joint venture with Bode Grabner Beye, a former chief rival to Rauser. Meanwhile, Watson Wyatt has beefed up its German operations by opening an office in Munich for benefits consulting and an office in Frankfurt for institutional investment consulting.

As Germany’s Heissmann has partnered with Buck Consultants for years, the big question is what will be next for Heubeck AG, which, like Heissmann, is one of Germany’s best-known pensions and actuarial advisors.

After ending a disastrous joint venture with a German software firm in January 2005, Heubeck’s owner Professor Klaus Heubeck hinted that he might look for a new partner.

“If you consider what is happening to other German pensions advisors like Bode, which just tied up with Hewitt, it’s clear that every player in the business will have to think about repositioning itself,” Heubeck told IPE at the time.

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