Prima Pensie and OTP poised to sell mandatory pension funds

Market sources have hinted to ZF that Prima Pensie and OTP will sell their mandatory private pension funds, after they launched negotiations with other pension managers with a view to exiting the business. OTP and Prima Pensie each managed to attract just over 20,000 participants during the four-month mandatory private pensions campaign. Hungarian-based OTP ranked twelfth with 20,347 clients, while Slovenian-based Prima Pensie ranked thirteenth with 20,004 clients. In the wake of lower than expected results, it is suggested that the two pension companies will sell their client portfolios, and are seeking potential buyers in the form of other managers, market sources told ZF. Similar rumors also report that Zepter (ranked sixteenth, with 1,558 clients) could also decide to sell its fund within the next two to three months. However, OTP and Prima Pensie have not officially confirmed their intentions yet. When contacted, OTP declined to comment, while Prima Pensie said its commitment to the mandatory pensions market is long term, and that no such decision had been made. Both Prima Pensie and OTP targeted 10% market shares, but ultimately secured just 0.5% of a market with four million available participants. “Sometime ago, Prima Pensie inspected the market, and voiced its intention of selling,” a fund manager told ZF. According to the sources, Prima Pensie has discussed the sale of its client portfolio with larger fund managers (from the top 10) and with smaller ones (from the bottom half of the ranking). The asking price per participant amounted to around 200-250 euros, the quoted sources reveal.