BELGIUM – The e550m Brussels based VKG/CPM pension fund for doctors, dentists and pharmacists has shortlisted four managers, including two from the US, for an e45-50m property mandate.

Bert Vanbaelen, a financial controller at the fund, says the property mandate will likely be in indirect funds with possible exposure to US Reits, adding that VKG’s pension fund director, Karel Stroobants, is currently in the US talking to the stateside players on the shortlist.

Vanbaelen notes that any final decision on manager selection has to be taken by the board of the pension fund, but with the next board meeting at the beginning of July, adds that it is unlikely a decision will be made that quickly:
“ It may well not be before September.”

Brussels based Pragma Consulting assisted in the creation of the long-list for the manager search.

In April the VKG/CPM fund put in place a new Direction Committee, composed of Stroobants as chairman, Filip Torfs as operational director, Carl Haeck as finance director and Roland Louis as development director.