Henderson faces High Court battle with 30 pension schemes

Nearly 30 pension funds, including Tesco, BUPA and the BBC, have filed claims at the High Court seeking damages from Henderson Global Investors over claims it took too much risk with one of its funds.

Between 20 and 30 schemes, dubbed the Henderson Action Group, will seek damages from the asset manager over claims Henderson's Private Finance Initiative fund took too much risk by acquiring John Laing, a firm with a large pension deficit.

It is claimed the fund promised to invest in low risk assets with inflation proofing, which the action group said the Laing acquisition contravened.

A Henderson Action Group spokesman said: "They will protest that John Laing clearly did not fit into that category. The fund subsequently lost two-thirds of its value, not least because of the deficit in the John Laing pension scheme."

It comes after more than a year of negotiations between the parties to resolve the dispute broke down.

Henderson did not return calls for comment at the time of going to press.

Last year, PP reported a group of disgruntled pension funds were threatening litigation against Henderson after one of its funds lost more than 60% of its value during the credit crunch (PP Online, 8 September 2010).

The majority of the assets in the Henderson PFI Secondary Fund II - an infrastructure vehicle whose clients include "large UK and continental European pension funds" - was used in the £1bn purchase of John Laing in 2006.

However, the credit crunch wiped about two- thirds from the value of the fund. And despite a 23% surge in its value in the first two quarters this year, its assets are currently worth just £230m.

In a statement last September, Henderson said: "The group has thoroughly investigated the issues raised and is confident it has no legal liability in respect of these issues and will vigorously defend any proceedings which may be brought. We continue to communicate regularly with clients on our progress on the restoration of performance in these funds."