Dutch pension PFZW (or Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn) has recently benefited from another $150 million return of profits through a dividend from Vermeer Reinsurance Ltd., the joint-venture and rated underwriting vehicle that RenaissanceRe Capital Partners manages on its behalf.
Vermeer Re fits more into the latter category, being a rated reinsurance company that was initially capitalised by PGGM on behalf of PFZW and has been steadily scaling in market stature, and given strong results, delivering capital back to the investor.
Vermeer Re is an efficient way for investor PFZW to access returns from the reinsurance market through a rated balance-sheet approach.
It means capital goes further, thanks to underwriting leverage, while the rated nature of the reinsurer means it can transact more widely with ceding companies, perhaps sourcing a differentiated portfolio of risk-linked returns compared to those PGGM invests in via ILS managers for PFZW.
Vermeer Reinsurance Ltd. (Vermeer Re) was launched and began underwriting for the January 2019 reinsurance renewals, as long-time insurance-linked securities (ILS) institutional investor PGGM partnered with RenaissanceRe, and it became the first managed and ‘A’ rated reinsurance structure to be backed by a single pension investor.
The structure has proven very profitable for pension investor PFZW and at times the investor has made new contributions to it, or rolled the income that was earned.
Over-time, the scale of Vermeer Re has been managed at somewhere around the $2 billion mark, while the joint-venture reinsurance structure has also enabled its investor to benefit from dividends as a way to efficiently draw out more of the earnings it has generated.
PFZW took a $175 million dividend from Vermeer Re back in the first-half of 2024, but did not take any further dividends through 2025.
In addition, the pension investor did not commit new capital to Vermeer Re during the last year, which likely reflects the fact the reinsurance joint-venture had reached an optimal scale as part of the pension’s overall ILS and reinsurance investments strategy.
PFZW has needed to manage its allocations to the ILS asset class, as strong earnings in recent years grew the allocation value and the pension has a strict target it tries to adhere to.
By the end of 2025, Vermeer Re counted $2.3 billion of assets and $411.4 million of liabilities on its balance-sheet, up from $1.9 billion and $93.0 million, respectively at the end of 2024.
Vermeer Re’s assets included $2 billion of investments and $332.7 million of other aggregated assets, while liabilities included $91.2 million of reserve for claims and claim expenses.
For full-year 2025, the income attributable to redeemable non-controlling interests in Vermeer Re, so the investors, amounted to almost $122.6 million.
That was down on almost $244.6 million in 2024, with that lower net income attributable to the investors being primarily due to catastrophe loss activity in 2025.
In addition to the still attractive net income being derived from Vermeer Re, as PFZW balances its investments across ILS and reinsurance the pension has now taken a $150 million dividend from the joint-venture in January 2026.
The total redeemable non-controlling interests in Vermeer Re had risen during 2025 to over $1.922 billion, up from almost $1.8 billion at the end of 2024, so this looks to be a case of PFZW managing the size of its investment in the structure and taking additional earnings in the form of a new dividend.
Vermeer Re’s balance-sheet size continues to be managed and right-sized for the current reinsurance underwriting opportunity by its joint-venture partners and investor, while the structure continues to deliver attractive gains to PFZW’s investment.
