NETHERLANDS – Stichting Total Pensioenfonds Nederland has put €10m into Kempen Capital Management’s new European Dividend Fund.

According to Total’s Antoine Dellaert, the main reason for the participation in the fund is the prospect of long-term out-performance and overall defensive characteristics.

Daan van der Werf, director of institutional relations at Kempen said the fund is largely focused on attracting institutional investors.

He said it will largely focus on European companies with an above average dividend yield.

“On top of that we focus on capital discipline and the ability of companies to generate attractive free cash flows in the future,” said fund manager Jorik van den Bos.

The fund is focussed on European high-level companies, long-only, with as target a base of between 60-80 companies.

The fund will be managed by a new team, the Kempen Dividend Strategies team, formed by Jorik van den Bos, Joris Franssen and Joost de Graaf, all formerly with ING Investment Management.

Kempen expects to reach a total investment portfolio for the fund of several hundred million euros the coming years.