DENMARK – The defined contribution pension schemes B&A Pension, HTS Pension and PKS - which cover nearly half a million workers - are to merge in a single entity worth DKK42bn (€5.7bn).

The three pension funds, which mainly cater for the private sector and a small part of the public sector, are to merge by mid-August. The deal has to be sanctioned by the Danish Financial Regulator and fund members.

The funds will officially announce the move next Tuesday, opening a three-month period when members can object.

Members are not expected to object significantly, Jens-Christian Stougaard, head of the funds’ management secretariat told IPE.

The regulator is also expected to make a decision within the next three months, while the governing body of Danish pension funds has already given the green light to the merger, he said.

After the merger the funds will take the name of their common administrative company PensionDenmark, adding the suffix A/S.

Stougaard explained that the step is a natural move as the funds have a common administration, asset management and investment vision. They were also founded at more or less the same time.

“We are making a formality of what has been a reality for many years,” he told IPE.

The asset managers, Nordea Investment Management, Carnegie Asset Management and T. Rowe Price, will be retained. The funds invest about 32% in equities and 68% in fixed income.

Torben Moger Pedersen will be chief executive of the new entity, which will have 480,000 members.

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