Northern Trust will provide custody and fund administration services to Univest, the new pension asset pooling vehicle launched by Unilever. The fund will be seeded with more than E€2 billion (approximately US$2.3 billion) at launch. Northern Trust will also act as Management Company to Univest.
Univest is believed to be the first fully tax-transparent, cross-border pension pooling vehicle launched for a multinational corporation in the form of a Luxembourg-domiciled Fonds Commun de Placement (“FCP”). The FCP – like the Dublin-domiciled Common Contractual Fund – is an approved vehicle that provides complete tax transparency for multinational corporations seeking to offer their individual, underlying country pension plans an opportunity to access a broad array of pooled investment options, including global equity mandates.
Stephen Potter, group head of Northern Trust’s International Business Segment, said: “This launch is a major milestone in the development of cross-border pension pooling and a highly significant achievement for Northern Trust. Having worked in partnership with Unilever and consultants, Mercer, on the launch of Univest, we are delighted to see everyone’s hard work come to fruition.”
Potter added, “Multinational cross-border pension pooling is a core, strategic focus for Northern Trust. We were the first to launch a vehicle for cross-border pension pooling back in 2001 (in the form of an Irish Unit Trust) and this latest achievement is a strong indication of our continued innovation and industry leadership within this highly complex field. We see pooling as an important growth sector as multinationals continue to seek to enhance governance and risk management, diversify investments and improve administrative efficiencies. We are currently implementing additional tax-transparent vehicles in both Dublin and Luxembourg, designed to serve the needs of both multinational companies and investment managers.”