| Type | Foundation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1922 |
| Headquarters |  Heerlen, Netherlands |
| Industry | Pension Fund |
| Products | Pension, Financial Services |
| Total assets | €215 billion ($300+ billion) |
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 year ended 31 December 2007, ABP had 2.7 million active participants and assets under management of €216 billion ($313 billion), making it the largest pension fund in the Netherlands and among the three largest pension funds in the world [1].
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. The current Chairman of the Board is Ed Nijpels, who took the chair on 1st August 2009.
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Pensions
The pensions supplement statutory benefits such as the old age pension AOW, surviving dependants pension and incapacity benefits. If the participant stops working between the ages of 60 and 70, he/she will receive the ABP Multi-OptionPension. If the participant dies, his/her partner and children may receive an ABP Survivor’sPension. 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: € 10100 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.
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,[citation needed] 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) is an independent investment company with 15 investment professionals based in New York. NHC manages a €7 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 as ABP's internal fund of hedge funds team and completed a spinout in 2006.[3][4][5]
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, Hong Kong and London with over 60 investment professionals and over 100 employees.[6][7][8][9] 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:
See also
References
- ^ Based on assets this designation changes frequently based on currency fluctuations
- ^ http://www.abp.nl/abp/abp/images/24.0015.08_tcm108-49085.pdf
- ^ Wait, how does ABP invest, again?
- ^ [1]
- ^ ABP spins off US unit Dutch pension giant ABP to spin off its hedge fund unit
- ^ AlpInvest reaches investment peak (DowJones PE News, 2008)
- ^ AlpInvest Top Euro PE Investor (Euromoney Institutional Investor, 2008)
- ^ AlpInvest Reaches Summit (Financial Times, 2004)
- ^ AlpInvest raises a mountain of money (TheDeal.com, 2004)
- Europe's largest pension funds by assets (DowJones Financial News, 2007)
- INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS; 2 Dutch Pension Funds Are Branching Out (New York Times, 1998)
- Dutch Pension Funds Offer to Buy Lender (New York Times, 1999)
- $2.2 Billion Dutch Deal For an Investment Bank (New York Times, 1999)
- Dutch pension fund ABP in negotiations to team up with Cordares
Further reading
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