AUSTRIA - The €1.9bn Austrian Pensionskasse ÖPAG will be included in Raiffeisen and Uniqa's soon-to-be-unveiled pensions conglomerate.

Raiffeisen and Uniqa, who are currently majority shareholders in ÖPAG, will also be including their jointly owned severance pay fund ÖVK as well as the consultancy PlanPension into the holding.

"We want to make use of synergy effects by putting these companies under one roof," a spokeswoman for Raiffeisen told IPE.

She said it will "facilitate the organisation" and create "a unified retirement provision company".

The new holding will mirror the current ownership structure of ÖPAG and ÖVK with Raiffeisen (45.93%) and UNIQA (41.42% ) remaining core shareholders. The rest will be held by the insurer Oberösterreichische Versicherung (6.97%), and the banks Schelhammer & Schattera (2.85%), Oberösterreichische Landesbank (1.55%) and Volkskreditbank (1.55%).

Andreas Zakostelsky, currently CEO of the bank's asset management arm Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM), will become chairman of the board at the new company.

His replacement at RCM as well as the other members of the board have not been named yet just as many other details have not been finalised yet - such as the holding's name.

"We wanted to inform the public as soon as we made the decision but details on staff changes, et cetera will still have to be negotiated - most likely after the summer break when everybody's back in the office," the spokeswoman explained.

She added "there might be one or two changes" regarding personnel in one or more of the companies which will be joined under the holding.

However, a spokesman for the ÖPAG confirmed to IPE that "there will be no structural changes" in the Pensionskasse after joining the holding.