GERMANY - The new chief executive of Bayer Pensionskasse V V AG, the six billion-euro pension fund of chemicals firm Bayer AG, says funds would be invested as carefully as the funding situation allows.

Lutz Cardinal von Widdern, who took over from Juergen Gasser when he retired in October 2003, said in an interview that the future of the pension funds would be to closely monitor obligations and assets and carefully review the investment strategy according to current financial market situation.

“We are, of course, continuing with the pensionskasse,” he said. “Investment will be done as carefully as the funding situation allows.”

The German chemical giant’s pension fund was worth 5.6 billion euros in 2002. At the moment, according to von Widdern’s estimates, the fund’s size should be approximately in the region of six billion euros, invested in bonds and equities.

“We have no hedge funds,” said von Widdern, who joined Bayer in 1991 and was appointed member of the board of directors of the Pensionskasse in July 1999.

According to its most recent financial report, Bayer made 5.1 billion euros in provisions for pensions and other post-retirement benefits as at the end of September 2003.

In 2003, Bayer’s pension fund also appointed a new chief financial officer, Stefan Nellshen, who joined Bayer AG in 1998 as head of interest rate risk management. He replaced Juergen Bader who resigned in April.

In 2001, Nellshen became head of capital market and financial models in the corporate finance area at Bayer AG.