MPK establishes real estate investment foundation

The Migros pension fund is thus transferring around 500 properties throughout Switzerland to the new "Migros Pension Fund Real Estate Investment Foundation". Portfolio management will continue to be carried out by the Migros pension fund. At the same time, the Denner pension fund and VORSORGE in globo M are transferring their real estate to the investment foundation; this involves real estate worth over CHF 175 million.

As Baker McKenzie lawyers, who advised MPK on the reorganization, say, this reorganization took more than three years, in particular because of the complex tax regulations. Thus, the tax authorities had to be convinced that the reorganization of the MPK portfolio was a tax-neutral restructuring.

The pension fund's board of trustees expects the reorganization to give MPK greater flexibility in the event of a partial liquidation. When integrating new pension funds into the M-Community, they would now be able to exchange their real estate holdings for claims on the investment foundation in addition to their securities holdings, which would be "simpler, faster and to exactly the right extent". Finally, the pension funds of the M-Community would gain access to a broadly diversified real estate portfolio at attractive cost rates, independent of a contribution in kind.