PMT, the €63bn pension fund for the Dutch metalworking and mechanical-engineering sectors, is increasing its real estate allocation as part of its new strategic investment framework.
CIO Inge van den Doel said the new framework would entail a redesign of the pension fund’s return portfolio, dividing it into three clusters of asset classes: property, equity and high yield.
They would account for 20%, 60% and 20% of the return portfolio, respectively.
Van den Doel said PMT would increase its exposure to real estate, currently 16% of the return portfolio, at the expense of high-yield investments and equities.
She also argued that property investments would increase the stability of the scheme’s overall investment returns.
The scheme’s matching portfolio – designed to cover liabilities – will also contain a larger proportion of residential mortgages.
PMT, the largest private sector scheme in the Netherlands, also said it wanted to invest through segregated mandates rather than through funds.
However, it said it would make an exception for private equity and international property, “as these asset classes don’t offer the option of an individual mandate”.
The pension fund said it developed the new investment framework because of the new joint pension arrangements with the €43bn metal scheme PME, as well as the implementation of the new financial assessment framework (nFTK) in the Netherlands.
