On the occasion of its annual review for the press on 2nd June 2015, the Board of Executives of the RAG-Stiftung drew on the most important highlights of the first half of their current term in office, presented the key points of the 2014 financial year and explained the targets for the current year.<\/p>\n
Since the current Board of Executives assumed office in December 2012, the RAG-Stiftung has reached significant milestones in terms of developing the foundation\u2019s assets and securing finance to cover the perpetual liabilities of coal mining cessation, as well as setting other important items for the future agenda. \u201cWe have been able to increase the foundation\u2019s assets from roughly \u20ac\u200911 billion at the end of 2012 to more than \u20ac\u200916 billion at present,\u201d said Dr. Werner M\u00fcller, Chairman of the Board of Executives of the RAG-Stiftung. \u201cThis means we have already established an excellent basis with which we can finance these perpetual liabilities in the future.\u201d To do so, the foundation has to raise approximately \u20ac\u2009220 million per year, starting in 2019. This is faced with annual revenues of approximately \u20ac\u2009350 million, which are likely to increase. \u201cThe foundation will not use the public purse to manage annual expenditure once coal mining has ceased,\u201d stressed M\u00fcller. \u201cIn other words, we do not want to \u2013 and will not \u2013 burden tax payers with financing the perpetual liabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
At roughly \u20ac\u200911 billion, the 68\u2009% share in Evonik Industries AG made a substantial contribution to the foundation\u2019s current assets. In the meantime, the 30\u2009% share in Vivawest, acquired by the foundation mid-2013 at a purchase price of around \u20ac\u2009900 million, contributes to its assets with a value of over \u20ac\u20091.5 billion, based on the stock market trend of comparable businesses.<\/p>\n
The 2014 surplus was \u20ac\u2009351 million. This amount was added to the accruals for perpetual liabilities, reaching a total of more than \u20ac\u20094 billion for the first time; at the end of 2012 it was just \u20ac\u20092.6 billion. \u201cThis success is the result of sound economic activity and investment decisions based on the future,\u201d said M\u00fcller. Since the end of 2013 and notably against the background of permanently low interest rates, the foundation has adapted its investment strategy in agreement with the Board of Trustees, promoted diversification of its investments to spread risk further and established appropriate structures to that end.<\/p>\n
Thanks to its two investment companies, the foundation currently has a share in seven medium-sized, expanding businesses from different sectors, with a total investment volume of around \u20ac\u2009300 million. Financial Director, Dr. Helmut Linssen, explained, \u201cWe are a long-term, reliable investor that wants to generate stable income on a lasting basis. And that is because we need that income to finance \u2018perpetual\u2019 liabilities.\u201d In addition, the foundation has invested around \u20ac\u2009150 million in international private equity and infrastructure funds, thereby investing at a more international level. Linssen said, \u201cThe total value of our diversified investments currently lies at roughly \u20ac\u20094\u00a0billion, which is a quarter of the foundation\u2019s \u20ac\u200916 billion or so in assets. We want to increase this amount in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
HR Director, B\u00e4rbel Bergerhoff-Wodopia, highlighted the increasing significance of education, science and culture in the regions affected by the cessation of coal mining: \u201cThe RAG-Stiftung fulfils its social responsibilities by running projects with specific objectives and has raised the ever-greater challenge in accordance with the 2014 finance volume by \u20ac\u20093 million up to \u20ac\u20094.5 million and increased the budget to \u20ac\u20097.5 million for 2015.\u201d Furthermore, Bergerhoff-Wodopia presented the special project, \u201cGl\u00fcckauf Zukunft!\u201d, which is designed as a series of initiatives running up until the last coal mine is closed at the end of 2018, in order to acknowledge the historic contributions of coal mining and to simultaneously give impetus to the post-coal mining era. The project was started as a community initiative by the foundation, RAG and Evonik, and in collaboration with social partner IG BCE. The single largest project in this regard is a thorough renovation of the Bergbau-Museum in Bochum, for which the foundation has set aside up to \u20ac\u200915 million.
\n(RAG-Stiftung\/Si)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the occasion of its annual review for the press on 2nd June 2015, the Board of Executives of the RAG-Stiftung drew on the most important highlights of the first …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[159,160,111],"class_list":["post-2244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-in-brief-04_2015","tag-evonik","tag-ig-bce","tag-rag-stiftung"],"yoast_head":"\n