Pensionskasse Alcan Schweiz

Pensionskasse Alcan Schweiz

Founded in 1926 as a cooperative and converted to a foundation in 1954, the Pensionskasse Alcan Schweiz delivers old-age, survivor, and disability benefits for employees of Alcan and its affiliated Swiss companies. The fund operates on a defined-benefit model, targeting retirement and disability payouts of 64% of insured salary after 40 contribution years. Sponsoring employers include Rio Tinto Alcan and Novelis Inc., the downstream aluminum-rolling business spun off from the former Alcan Inc. The fund's assets back long-duration liabilities, with residential real estate and Swiss mortgages appearing among its direct holdings. Its residential vehicle, Avadis Wohnen Schweiz, provides a domestic real-asset exposure directly aligned with the liability profile. The fund does not publish an asset allocation breakdown, but the visible direct-ownership structure suggests a conservative, liability-driven strategy centered on Swiss-franc-denominated, income-producing assets. Franz Brühlmann chairs the Board of Trustees, with Managing Director Ursula May leading day-to-day operations. The fund is a member of ASIP, the Swiss pension fund association. In June 2024, the Board of Trustees informed affected members of the new distribution plan resulting from a partial liquidation process initiated in 2011 — a proceeding where the Bernese Supervisory Authority (BVS) issued binding rulings in December 2023, with two of the original parties still pursuing appeals before the Federal Administrative Court. The fund's structural differentiator is its closed, single-sponsor heritage — a rarity as many Swiss corporate pension schemes have consolidated into collective institutions. Its board includes employer and employee representatives, and it uses Ethos-Stiftung for voting recommendations on equity holdings, embedding an external governance layer without ceding internal control.