OPG pension fund to sue State Street

Wednesday 15 July 2009

The pension fund operated by drugs wholesale company OPG is to sue US asset manager State Street, saying it is responsible for the loss of €47m in pension assets.

The lawsuit follows the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers last September. State Street had put most of OPG's share portfolio into Lehman but did not pull out when the financial crisis broke, the Telegraaf reports.

Last year, OPG's pension fund booked a loss on its shares of over €68m, compared with profit of €3.6m the previous year. OPG has frozen pension payouts this year.

The NRC reports that the pension fund for pharmacy workers PMA has also lost €34m after handing over control of its investments to State Street. It too is preparing legal action, the paper says.

A State Street spokesman told the paper: 'We are working aggressively with our bankruptcy and litigation counsel, both in the US and the UK, to recover the assets which have been frozen due to Lehman Brothers insolvency. We intend to defend ourselves against this litigation.'

The paper says State Street managed €29bn in assets for dozens of Dutch pension funds in 2008.

© DutchNews.nl

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