Its board said that it had asked for quotes from three insurers, including Aegon, which has already insured 86% of the scheme’s liabilities.The pension fund said it preferred a buyout with a focus on consumer price index (CPI) inflation, as it used this measure to grant uplifts to its deferred participants and 3,000 pensioners.Benefits for VNU’s 227 active participants, however, are linked to wage inflation.If the Pensioenfonds VNU could not afford the insurance buyout, it would continue as an independent scheme for the time being, it said.Nielsen, the sponsoring employer, is assessing the possibility of shifting future pensions accrual elsewhere, probably under a defined contribution plan, in line with the parent company’s worldwide pensions arrangements.In its annual report for 2017, the scheme indicated that continuing as a closed pension fund would be another option.The VNU scheme has 5,300 participants in total.Private credit specialist targets Benelux expansionUK asset manager Pemberton has opened an office in Amsterdam, citing “increased investment opportunities in the Benelux”.The company, which specialises in private credit, said it wanted to enforce its relationship with local clients as well as private equity and other financial firms.At the same time, Pemberton has appointed Boris Harmsen as managing director and head of Benelux.Harmsen joins from IKB Deutsche Industriebank, where he was head of leverage finance and sponsor coverage for Benelux.Prior to this, Harmsen had positions at Dutch asset manager Egeria, Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro Bank.London-based Pemberton has also offices in Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Luxembourg and Paris, and is 40% owned by Legal & General. The €450m pension fund of Dutch publisher VNU is considering an insurance buyout in order to safeguard its inflation-linked benefits.In a newsletter, it said the transfer to an insurer would only go ahead if the scheme itself could fund a significant part of future inflation compensation.Although most of its liabilities have already been insured with Aegon, the pension fund still pays indexation from its own assets. This includes the risk that the scheme is unable to achieve its indexation target.During the past few months Pensioenfonds VNU has reduced its risk exposure by lowering its equity allocation from 50% to 20%.
Netherlands roundup: Publishing scheme eyes buyout
September 29, 2020
Dominion Post 15 Aug 2012MPs are poised to vote on the alcohol purchase age next week. Parliament’s business committee met yesterday and is understood to have agreed to a vote on the age as early as next Tuesday. MPs will have a conscience vote on whether to keep the purchase age at 18, move it back up to 20 or split the age to 18 for on-licence venues like bars and restaurants and 20 for off-licences like supermarkets and bottle stores. The purchase age is one part of the Alcohol Reform Bill, which proposes a move to the split age. The other options will be put to MPs via amendments. The rest of the bill includes new measures for more community control over the concentration, location, and hours of sale for alcohol outlets and new national maximum trading hours of 7am-11pm for off-licences and 8am-4am for on-licences and club licences. That part of the bill is expected to be debated next month, separately from the purchase age.Youth wings of the main political parties have joined together to push for the age to stay at 18. National MP Nikki Kaye will move an amendment to the bill calling for the age to remain at 18. All of the Green Party MPs, with the possible exception of one, will support Ms Kaye’s amendment, though it is unclear whether it will have enough support to pass. The Law Commission, which carried out a major review of liquor laws in 2010, initially suggested a split age but shifted to back a return to 20 in its final recommendations. Another National MP, Tim MacIndoe, will move an amendment to push the age to 20, where it had been until it was dropped to 18 in 1999. The age is the only part of the bill National MPs will be allowed a free vote on, whereas Labour MPs will be allowed to vote on conscience on the whole bill.http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7478790/MPs-to-vote-on-alcohol-purchase-age
Marcelo Bielsa began life at Leeds United with a minute’s applause to mark the passing of former club legend Paul Madeley. It set the tone for the entire match: the Whites faithful’s hands were almost worn out in continuous ovation as the eccentric Argentine instantly made his presence felt in a stunning 3-1 win over Stoke City to kick off the Championship in perfect fashion.The arrival of the former Argentina, Athletic, Marseille and Lille boss in Yorkshire was one of the shocks of the summer. Even before a ball was kicked on Sunday, ‘El Loco’ had made his presence felt. Having discovered the average Leeds fan must work for three hours in order to pay for a ticket at Elland Road, he sent his first-team squad out to pick up rubbish around the club training ground for that same time to teach them the sacrifice and passion that emanates from the stands.After all, if there is one thing that typifies this cerebral, methodical, often exhausting student and cult hero of the beautiful game, it is passion. Article continues below Editors’ Picks Man Utd ready to spend big on Sancho and Haaland in January Who is Marcus Thuram? Lilian’s son who is top of the Bundesliga with Borussia Monchengladbach Brazil, beware! Messi and Argentina out for revenge after Copa controversy Best player in MLS? Zlatan wasn’t even the best player in LA! Having struggled to impose his trademark all-action, thrilling football in an abortive Lille spell last season the jury was out on how Bielsa would fare in the notoriously physical, no-nonsense English second tier, often as much a war of attrition over the course of the gruelling 46-game season as of fine football. But while it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions, the first glimpse of El Loco was overwhelmingly positive.Even playing against a Premier League stalwart in the shape of Stoke, desperate for an instant return to the promised land, Leeds were always on top. The hosts’ plan was straight from the classic Bielsa playbook: two roving full-backs in Luke Ayling and Barry Douglas stretching the Potters throughout, while Macedonian No. 10 Ezgjan Alioski pulled all the strings as Leeds’ stationary conduit outside the Stoke box.Further back the veteran Pablo Hernandez marshalled the Leeds midfield, spraying the ball around in the guise of a West Yorkshire Xavi. In possession Elland Road marvelled at every slick triangulation that cut apart their distinguished rivals, while once the ball was lost Stoke’s beleaguered charges were harassed and harried by a hive of intense collective pressing. Often such an animated presence on the bench, Bielsa was content this time to sit back and let his new team do the work; and they did not disappoint.The opener came just 15 minutes in, former Real Madrid trainee Samuel Saiz dancing around his disorientated markers and sliding a perfect pass through to Mateusz Klich who drilled past the exposed Jack Butland.It was no less than Bielsa and Leeds deserved after a frenetic start to the match that left Stoke shell-shocked. And while the Whites enjoyed no small fortune when Butland let Hernandez’s long-range effort slip under his body for the second to double the lead on the stroke of half-time, the 2-0 lead was the least Leeds could hope for after pushing for goals throughout the first 45 minutes.💬 | What did you think of #LUFC’s first 45 minutes? pic.twitter.com/sLPYvRh5r7— Leeds United (@LUFC) 5 de agosto de 2018There was, of course, the occasional scare. Tom Ince rattled the bar with a cracking effort, while James McClean squandered the chance to hit back on one of the rare moments Leeds’ high pressing fell apart. Just five minutes into the second half a hideous mix-up in the Leeds box while playing out from deep allowed Stoke to pull one back from the penalty spot, to Bielsa’s obvious distaste as he made himself comfortable as always perched on top of a cooler, eschewing the comfort of the substitutes’ bench.It was a momentary blip, rectified shortly afterwards when the fantastic Douglas’ corner was met by the head of Liam Cooper to make it 3-1 on the hour. While allowing for the surprising incompetence of a ragged Stoke team that appear to be still in mourning over the loss of their elite status, it was a scintillating all-round performance that serves as a warning for the rest of the Championship. Leeds still have a long way to go, and tougher opponents surely await in this most competitive of leagues. Bielsa, too, will have to manage his team with exemplary precision, as the physical drop-off that is a hallmark of his squads after Christmas will be all the more pronounced in such a demanding division. Whether Leeds can maintain the intensity and aggression shown in these outstanding 90 initial minutes is a question that will need to be answered further down the line. For now, though, Leeds’ new bespectacled Nutty Professor is the toast of Elland Road. Bielsa fever has hit hard, and one thing is for certain: supporters can expect an exhilarating season under El Loco.