September 27 (SeeNews) - Slovenian pension fund manager Prva Pokojninska Druzba (PPD) will raise the capital of its Romanian unit by 1.7 million euro ($2.4 million) from the current 4.0 million euro, PPD said on Thursday.
“The supervisory board has approved the capital hike of the Romanian subsidiary company Prima Pensie Fond De Pensii [...] which is in line with the company’s plan for securing the needed capital for its business plans," the head of PPD's marketing department, Tjasa Pecnik Mlakar, told SeeNews.
Prima Pensie, set up in June 2007, is PPD's seventh unit in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It will initially operate in mandatory pensions insurance and later plans to expand its activity to voluntary pension funds.
Romania’s government has set a period from September 17, 2007 to January 17, 2008 when employees younger than 35 years of age will be able to choose a private pension fund.
The EU newcomer has decided to replace its pay-as-you-go pension system by three-pillar system comprising a government-run pension fund, a number of private funds that will invest mandatory pension contributions made by employees younger than 35 years of age (second pillar), and privately-held voluntary funds that will provide supplementary pensions (third pillar). Romania joined the European Union in January 2007.
Earlier this year, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) raised the capital of PPD by up to eight million euro, acquiring a 20% stake. The equity investment was intended to provide further funds for PPD's expansion in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. The EBRD is the third-largest shareholder in PPD, after Slovenian companies Dej, with 32%, and Poteza Skupina, with 30%.
($ = 0.71 euro)