Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP

Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP ("National Civil Pension Fund"), frequently referred to as ABP, is the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands. For the quarter ended 31 December 2014, ABP had 2.8 million participants and assets under management of €344 billion ($388 billion, 1 EUR=1.13 USD), making it the largest pension fund in the Netherlands and among the five largest pension funds in the world as at September 2016.[1]

Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (National Civil Pension Fund)
Foundation
IndustryPension fund
Founded1922 (1922)
FounderNetherlands central government 
HeadquartersHeerlen, Netherlands
ProductsPension, Financial Services
Total assets€344 billion ($400+ billion)
Websitewww.abp.nl 

ABP’s predecessor, the Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds ("Dutch Civil Servants Pension Fund"), was established in 1922 following the adoption of the superannuation act, which regulated the pensions of civil servants. Originally, the pension fund was a government controlled entity that fell under the authority of the minister of home affairs in The Hague. In January 1996, ABP was privatized although its primary function remains unchanged.

Since 1 March 2008 ABP's subsidiary APG administers the ABP pension scheme.

ABP is headquartered in Heerlen, Netherlands. On 1 January 2015, Corien Wortmann-Kool took the chair as Chairman of the Board.

Pensions

The pensions supplement statutory benefits such as the old age pension AOW, surviving dependents' pension, and incapacity benefits. If the participant stops working between the ages of 60 and 70, he/she will receive the ABP Multi-Option Pension. If the participant dies, his/her partner and children may receive an ABP Survivor’s Pension. If the participant becomes unfit for work, the government will pay incapacity benefits under the Work and Income (Ability to Work) Act (WIA); ABP can supplement these benefits with an incapacity pension.

Since 1 January 2004, ABP pensions are based on average salaries during the course of the pensioners’ careers. This is known as an average-salary scheme. As a transition measure, benefits accrued before 2004 are based on the salary on 1 January 2004. Only members of the armed forces now have pensions based on their final salaries.[2]

Both contributions and accrual of benefits are based on the salary minus a threshold (2008: €10,100 per year). The reason for the threshold is the fact that the pension is a supplement to the AOW, etc.

Investments

ABP manages the bulk of its investments in-house through its captive investment unit APG Investments, a privately owned investment manager. APG operates as a subsidiary of Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP and was formerly known as ABP Investments.

In 2006, ABP and PGGM, another large Dutch pension fund, considered a spinoff of their investment management businesses. The two pension funds coordinate their activities in private equity through AlpInvest Partners, one of the largest investors globally in the private equity asset class. Recently, AlpInvest Partners was acquired by the Carlyle group.

In January 2014, Dutch newspaper Trouw reported that ABP acknowledged continuing their investment in Israeli banks Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, and Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, each of which fund Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories.[3]

US investment activities

In the United States, as in Europe, ABP is a major investor in financial markets including public equity, fixed income, real estate, commodities, hedge funds and private equity.

According to information published by ABP, its largest US investments include ExxonMobil, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Boston Properties, Public Storage, Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

Hedge fund investments

New Holland Capital (NHC)[4] is an independent investment company with 20 investment professionals based in New York City. NHC manages a $15 billion portfolio of hedge fund investments exclusively on behalf of APG Investments. NHC provides APG Investments a continuity of professional management of its hedge fund portfolio.

NHC was founded in October 2002 by Ira Handler as ABP's internal fund of hedge funds team and completed a spinout in 2006.[5][6][7]

Private equity investments

AlpInvest Partners, founded in 1999 is the exclusive manager of private equity investments for APG and fellow Dutch pension group Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn. AlpInvest is one of the largest private equity investment managers globally with over €40 billion (approximately $50 billion) under management at the end of 2007. AlpInvest has offices in Amsterdam, New York City, Hong Kong and London with over 60 investment professionals and over 100 employees.[8][9][10][11] AlpInvest pursues investment opportunities across the entire spectrum of private equity: buyout, venture capital, growth capital, mezzanine and distressed. AlpInvest also invests across the range of private equity investment channels:

Criticism

In June 2018 ABP was criticized by environmental organizations for its investments in tar sands oil companies and pipelines. [12] ABP reacted by stating that active engagement with the companies delivers more result than divestment from these companies.[13]

ABP is also criticized for investing in Israeli banks that fund Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories, which considered illegal under international law.

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See also

References
  1. "Top pension fund assets fall for the first time since the global financial crisis". Willis Towers Watson.
  2. "ABP - Pensioenfonds voor overheid en onderwijs" (PDF). www.abp.nl.
  3. "ABP blijft beleggen in Israëlische banken". Trouw.
  4. "404 - APG". www.apg.nl.
  5. Investments, Pensions & (2 October 2006). "Wait, how does ABP invest, again?".
  6. Investments, Pensions & (19 July 2006). "Dutch pension giant ABP to spin off its hedge fund unit".
  7. "Page not Found!". www.efinancialnews.com.
  8. AlpInvest reaches investment peak Archived 2008-08-21 at the Wayback Machine (DowJones PE News, 2008)
  9. AlpInvest Top Euro PE Investor (Euromoney Institutional Investor, 2008)
  10. AlpInvest Reaches Summit Archived 2008-04-07 at the Wayback Machine (Financial Times, 2004)
  11. AlpInvest raises a mountain of money (TheDeal.com, 2004)
  12. Reijn, Gerard, "Pensioenbeleggers investeren een miljard in 'vuilste vorm van olie die er is" in de Volkskrant d.d.19 juni 2018 en Santen, Hester van, "Grote pensioenfondsen beleggen in vervuilende winning teerzanden Canada", Nrc.nl d.d. 20 juni 2018

Further reading

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