Long-awaited PNO Media, PGB merger thrown into doubt
PNO and PGB have been in talks over a far-reaching cooperation – including a merger – for several years now.Even at the end of last year, PGB still fully expected PNO to join its ranks, creating a new pensions giant.It considered the end of 2013 as a “logical moment” for the merger, as all pension funds must raise their funding to the government’s minimum of 105% by then.Currently, PGB’s coverage ratio is 103%, whereas funding at PNO was languishing at 99.6% as of the end of August.Earlier this week, Timeos, the exclusive pensions provider for PGB, announced that it changed its status from independent foundation into a PGB-owned company, “in order to fully focus on the scheme for the printing industry”.The provider, which initially had the intention to actively acquire clients for pension provision, said: “This is the best way for creating the necessary scale of PGB.”Theo Flach, a spokesman at PGB, added: “Timeos’s decision fits within our current philosophy that autonomous growth of PGB offers more potential for widening our basis than extension through the provider.”According to Flach, PGB has recently invested in a new and flexible administration system for its pension provision at Timeos.The pension fund for the printing industry is developing into a multi-sector fund, including participants from the cardboard and chemical industry and the rubber sector.After several new pension funds joined PGB recently, it saw the number of participants increase by 15% to more than 98,000 during the past year and a half. The possible merger between the €4.1bn media scheme PNO and the €14bn pension fund for the Dutch printing industry (PGB) has been thrown into doubt after PNO elected to suspend consultations.Ton Tekstra, chairman at PNO, told IPE: “We want to review our strategy. It might be possible the desired benefits could be achieved without joining PGB.”Tekstra declined to elaborate what those benefits might be, but he did say a cooperation with PGB was still an option, “as we operate in the same sector”.He said he expected PNO to clarify its strategy by next spring.