On 11 October 2024, the Federal Government submitted the draft bill for a 2nd Act to Strengthen Company Pensions to the Bundesrat. This contains exciting amendments to the Investment Ordinance (AnlV), which is particularly relevant for pension funds:
Own infrastructure quota
The new Section 3 (7) AnlV introduces a separate infrastructure quota of 5% of the guarantee assets. The infrastructure investments are intended to finance infrastructure facilities and infrastructure companies. This includes investments in both equity and debt instruments. Accordingly, investments via open-ended and closed-end special AIFs in particular are also in the legislator’s field of vision.
The new quota is intended to facilitate infrastructure investments by not counting the corresponding plants against the existing mix quotas of the Investment Ordinance pursuant to Section 3 (1) to (6)[1] and therefore not competing with other plants. The infrastructure ratio does not limit the investment of the guarantee assets in infrastructure to 5%. This is because investments in infrastructure can continue to be taken into account in the other blending quotas according to their type of investment. However, investments for financing infrastructure that are added to an open-ended special AIF can be counted against the infrastructure quota. This has the particular advantage that these can be deducted from the real estate quota for real estate AIFs and the real estate quota – which has “overflowed” at many pension funds in recent years – is therefore “freed up” again for new investments.
Further amendments to the AnlV
The risk capital investment ratio pursuant to Section 3 (1) AnlV will be increased from 35% to 40% of the guarantee assets. This expands the scope for capital investment. The extent to which the extended leeway can be used is determined by the investment and risk management as well as the risk-bearing capacity of the respective company.
The so-called opening clause, which includes investments that are not covered by the fixed investment catalogue of the AnlV, is to be extended. In the future, it will also be possible to subsume investments that do not meet the diversification requirements per asset class, e.g. 10% of the guarantee assets per individual property. This creates more flexibility with regard to investments with individual debtors or individual investments.
According to supervisory administrative practice, closed-end AIFs that are suitable for the guarantee assets can acquire shareholdings in infrastructure project companies. Since the Investment Ordinance has not formally permitted this to date, the reference to the Capital Investment Code will be adapted accordingly.
We will accompany further developments in the upcoming parliamentary procedure and keep you informed.
