Deutsche Post to seek managers to run pension bond proceeds

Deutsche Post Pensions-Treuhand GmbH & Co. KG, Bonn, will likely search for new investment managers following the injection of €2 billion ($2.6 billion) from the sale of bonds, Deutsche Post DHL announced Tuesday.

The contractual trust agreement pension plan currently manages its €320 million of assets internally, primarily in real estate and cash, spokesman Sebastian Steffen said in an e-mail.

But following the influx of bond proceeds expected by the end of the year, “we will quite likely invest in a wide range of different asset classes by using different (new) asset managers,” Mr. Steffen said. “At present, an asset-allocation study is a work in progress.”

The plan's liabilities are estimated at €3.5 billion.

The bond sale, planned for Tuesday, aimed to take advantage of favorable conditions for issuing bonds, the company said in a news release.

Deutsche Post DHL expects the sale and pension funding to improve its operating cash flow in coming years because a “larger share of pension payments can be made from plan assets as well as from the returns generated by the investment of these funds,” according to the release.

— Contact Drew Carter at dcarter@pionline.com | @Carter_PI