(February 15, 2013) — The largest pure-play European pension fund has settled a third lawsuit in as many months, scooping thousands of euros from the defendant just weeks before trial.
ABP announced yesterday that it had reached a settlement with drugs manufacturer Merck in a case dating back to 2008.
The case had been due to come to full trial on March 4 in the court for the District of New Jersey in the United States.
The pension fund said Merck had agreed to pay $215 million to resolve the five-year-old case, which is to be split between all defendants and covers all investors who held shares in the company between December 6, 2006 and March 28, 2008. The settlement is part of a $688 million total payment that Merck agreed with plaintiffs in two class actions that were combined for trial.
Other lead plaintiffs in the class action case were International Fund Management SA (part of the Deka Bank Group), the Jacksonville Police and Fire Retirement System, and the General Retirement System of the City of Detroit.
The case centred on the delayed results of a clinical test, which investors claimed lowered the price of the company stock. Merck has denied and continues to deny the claims made by the plaintiffs.
The settlement comes less than a week after the pension fund agreed to end its mortgage-backed securities lawsuit against a unit of Deutsche Bank in exchange for an undisclosed settlement.
ABP sued Ace Securities Corporation in September 2011, claiming the Deutsche Bank arm had falsely represented the default probability of certain mortgage-backed securities when selling the financial instruments.
In December, the pension fund announced it had reached agreement with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to settle claims regarding residential mortgage-backed securities the fund purchased from certain affiliates of JPMC, Bear Stearns, and Washington Mutual Bank in 2006 and 2007.
The pension fund has not reported all good news so far this year. In January it said members’ benefits would have to be cut by 0.5% in 2013 due to ABP’s funding ratio not showing sufficient recovery. In late December 2012, the funding ratio amounted to 96%.