The Dutch pension fund for doctors has already sold six out of 65 stocks in its new ‘buy-and-hold’ equities strategy, despite pledging to make “as few transactions as possible”.
The fund promised a holding period of “at least 10 years” at the launch of the new portfolio in January this year. The pension fund declined to provide an explanation for the changes made to the portfolio. It said the decisions were taken by an external manager, which the fund continues to refuse to name, without input from the pension fund.
When the GP fund announced its new concentrated investment strategy at the end of 2024, the move was widely criticised. Finance professor Rob Bauer, who warned at the time that opting for a limited number of stocks comes with the risk of missing out on “the Nvidia’s of the future”, now calls the apparent change of heart of the GP fund “quite strange.”
He said: “It shows it is just very difficult to choose the 65 best companies from more than 4,000 stocks. You can make mistakes.”
In other investment news, Dutch pension funds continued to up their impact investments. The pension funds PostNL and Slagers, the sector scheme for butchers, pledged €220m between them to invest in an impact private debt fund managed by Eiffel Group.
Separately, retail sector scheme Detailhandel announced it would increase its impact investments from around €300m to as much as €1.5bn following an appeal from a Member Dialogue held last year, as well as a recent survey.
Buyout market accelerates
With the Dutch pension transition gearing up, the Dutch market for buyouts, estimated to be worth some €20-30bn, appears to be accelerating. Funds that will not make the transition to the new defined benefit-based pension system have to choose to continue as closed funds, move accruals to pooled pension schemes or conclude a buyout with an insurer.
The current high funding ratios, combined with subdued inflation expectations, make the latter an increasingly attractive option. As a result, the number of new buyout transactions has increased recently, while most insurers see an uptick in interest. With one notable exception…
Items to note:
- The IPE Conference & Awards 2025 is taking place on 4 December at the Palacio de Congresos de Sevilla in Spain.
Tjibbe Hoekstra
IPE Netherlands Correspondent
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