NETHERLANDS - UK investors Hermes and the Universities Superannuation Scheme have filed a request with the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals for an investigation over Canon's tender offer worth €730m (US$990.5m) to buy Océ, the biggest...

IRELAND - The National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) will receive €250m (US$340m) worth of Bank of Ireland (BoI) ordinary shares in lieu of a cash payment of this year's coupon.

NETHERLANDS - Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP chairman Ed Nijpels has resigned due to his involvement in the investigation over the collapse of DSB bank last year.

MEXICO - Mexican pension regulator Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (CONSAR) has expanded the range of equities pension funds can buy and introduced flexible value-at-risk (VaR) rules in a bid to better adapt to market volatility....

NETHERLANDS/US - The deficit of Dutch chemical company AkzoNobel's defined benefit plan almost doubled during 2009 reaching €1.9bn (US$2.6bn) despite improving market conditions since March last year.

Giovanni Legorano investigates the increasing trend for US law firms to seek security class action business in western Europe

UK - Readers Digest UK has plunged into administration after The Pensions Regulator vetoed an agreement to settle its long-standing pension scheme liability.

US - Food giant Kraft has announced it will freeze its US pension plans for current salaried and non-union hourly employees from December 31, 2019, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

IRELAND - The union representing Allied Irish Banks (AIB) employees is balloting staff on whether some members of AIB defined benefit scheme should start making contributions to the plan, an Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) spokesman confirmed....

EUROPE - Exchange traded funds tracking commodities and hedge fund indices are the best placed to receive new inflows this year, a survey by db x-trackers revealed.