Le fonds public Kenfo: le fonds nucléaire s'offre pour une rente de capital prévue

Germany’s state-backed fund for nuclear waste management, known as Kenfo, has emerged as a potential key player in the country’s planned capital pension system, according to its managing director, Anja Mikus. The fund achieved a return of 6.2 percent on its investments in the previous year and posted a stronger performance of 7.9 percent in the first half of 2026 despite ongoing geopolitical tensions linked to the Iran conflict. These figures were announced during a press conference on Wednesday, marking a shift in the fund's role beyond its traditional responsibilities. Mikus expressed openness to taking on the management of capital pensions, aligning with the government coalition’s plans for a supplementary retirement scheme modeled after Sweden’s system. She emphasized that the fund already possesses both the infrastructure and expertise required to manage such a task. During her remarks, she highlighted the fund’s low management fee of no more than 0.1 percent, suggesting this could make it an attractive option for future pension planning. The potential transition of Kenfo into a pension fund highlights the need for long-term investment strategies, whether for nuclear waste storage or retirement savings. This move would be decided politically by Germany’s black-yellow coalition government in the autumn. Earlier this year, the Pension Commission explicitly named Kenfo as a suitable entity for the proposed additional pension plan, which would see workers contribute an extra two percent of their gross salary alongside existing contributions for the pay-as-you-go pension system. Originally established in 2017, Kenfo was tasked with managing the one-time payments made by nuclear power plant operators for the disposal of radioactive waste. These companies contributed a total of 24.1 billion euros, freeing them from further claims related to waste storage. The fund aims to grow this capital sufficiently to cover costs over a timeframe extending until the year 2100. According to the latest balance sheet, Kenfo has already transferred 5.3 billion euros toward waste disposal expenses to the Federal Ministry of the Environment. Despite these disbursements, the fund’s assets grew to 25.6 billion euros by the end of 2025, achieving an average annual return of 6.1 percent. Anja Mikus currently oversees approximately 25 billion euros as the chairperson of the fund responsible for financing nuclear waste disposal. While there have been setbacks, such as a ten percent decline in the fund’s value during the pandemic year of 2022, Mikus views these fluctuations as part of natural market adjustments rather than catastrophic failures. She argues that such volatility presents opportunities for acquiring favorable investment positions. Kenfo’s current asset allocation includes roughly 40 percent in equities and bonds, spread broadly across countries and risk categories. Nearly 15 percent is invested in non-listed assets ranging from real estate to private equity. Mikus indicated that this proportion will increase to nearly 29 percent in the future. Managing capital for retirement, according to Mikus, is fundamentally simpler than the fund’s current mission because it does not receive regular contributions. Instead, it must rely solely on its initial capital to meet all necessary withdrawals. In contrast, a pension fund can adjust its portfolio through new contributions. A crucial success factor, Mikus stressed, is recognizing that the fund is not a subsidy program. The money invested should generate returns and remain available for its intended purpose, emphasizing the importance of respecting financial principles in any future role the fund might take on.