Lufthansa creating new pension fund

Lufthansa AG, Cologne, Germany, is launching a new pension fund next quarter, probably in July, said Axel Tillmann, general manager treasury for the company, which has 4.3 billion euros ($5.1 billion) in pension assets. Company officials hired money managers for government and mortgage bonds, euro equities and corporate euro bonds — although Mr. Tillmann declined to identify them. Company officials are currently searching for global managers to fill the remaining three asset classes: U.S. and Asian equities and emerging market bonds. The fund, which will probably be called the LH Pension Fund, will start off with 500 million euros, funded from cash flow. The fund will be managed by multimanager HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt. Lufthansa is launching the new plan to fund the next 10 to 15 years of pension liabilities and gradually transfer them off the balance sheet, and to provide better protection for employees, said Mr. Tillmann. HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt and recently hired global custodian State Street Corp. are assisting.