Cost of taking over pension fund members too high, according to analysts

In recent acquisition deals on the pension fund market, the cost of taking over one pension fund account ran as high as zl.1500 or even zl.2300 when considering only those members whose accounts are not empty. Analysts claim these prices are excessive and that future takeover targets are unlikely to be this expensive. Several acquisitions in the sector are inevitable, as at least ten out of the 21 funds on the market are too small to be profitable. Estimating the fair value of the funds is very difficult due to the long-term nature of pension fund investments and the fact that the market is still very young. Another key factor is chaos in the Social Insurance Company (ZUS), as a result of which, sometimes only half of the pension funds' members have any premiums paid into their accounts. In the most recent deal, Hestia Insurance paid nearly zl.1200 per member or zl.2350 when considering only members with money in their accounts, for OFE PBK Orzel. In the future, only the mid-sized EGO fund is expected to be valued this high, while the prices of smaller funds are likely to be significantly lower. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.27, Puls Biznesu, p.7) M.K.