Dutch pension funds boosted by private equity

Dutch pension funds PGGM and ABP have reported healthy returns from their private equity investments in 2005.
 

PGGM reported a return on investment of 33.5 percent for private equity in 2005, compared to returns of 16.7 percent in 2004 and 3.8 percent in 2003. Private equity achieved the highest returns of the pension fund’s investments in the fourth quarter of 2005, with a return of eight percent.
 
The pension fund said in a statement that private equity, in which it has a 4.9 percent allocation, was its best-performing asset class in 2005.  PGGM posted an overall return of 16.3 percent for the full year and reported total assets under management of €71.5 billion ($86.3 billion).
 
Else Bos, PGGM’s managing director investments, said in a statement: “With a return of 16.3 percent, we have had a fantastic 2005, with all asset classes performing strongly. The non-traditional asset classes (especially commodities and private equity), which have a relatively important weighting in the PGGM portfolio did particularly well,” said Bos.
 

ABP, which has an allocation of around three percent in private equity, reported a 27.2 percent return on investment for the asset class in 2005. ABP posted an overall return on investment of 12.8 percent, with total assets under management of €180 billion.
 
Last December, Amsterdam-based AlpInvest Partners, Europe’s largest private equity limited partner, announced that it had received an additional €11 billion mandate from ABP and PGGM. AlpInvest was established in 1999 as the exclusive manager of ABP and PGGM’s private equity interests.