Investing with foresight

The RAG-Stiftung is responsible for financing the so-called perpetual obligations of the German coal mining industry. To grow its assets for this purpose, it pursues an investment strategy with foresight: it spreads risks and diversifies its investments across many different asset classes. This strategy has proven itself for years, including in the 2021 financial year.

The objective is to operate successfully and create the perfect balance of security and yield. In doing so, the RAG-Stiftung is able to fulfil the mission specified in its articles of association: the financing of the perpetual obligations in post-mining. Moreover, it supports projects in the fields of education, science and culture in former coal mining regions.

Ideally, the RAG-Stiftung ensures the income to meets its obligations through different risk premiums and a broadly diversified portfolio, which is why its investments are distributed throughout the entire world. They are drive by allocation and risk budget, granular and flexible. Specifically, this means that the RAG-Stiftung always invests consistently, but never suddenly and never limited to individual investment objectives. In fact, the investments range from government and corporate bonds through shares to illiquid investments such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure.

Company headquarters

The RAG-Stiftung is located at the Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site. © Mike Henning

The RAG-Stiftung makes use of various vehicles to this end. In addition to RAG-S Private Equity GmbH & Co. KG – a holding company for private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds – RAG-Stiftung has its own special fund: RAGS-FundMaster. The RAG-Stiftung uses this fund to hold investments with a market value of 4.5 billion euros in equity, bond and real estate funds.

The strategy of the RAG-Stiftung also proved itself during the coronavirus pandemic, which presented the economy and society as a whole with unexpected challenges: in 2021, the RAG-Stiftung once again generated a very good result and thus achieved its objectives in full.

Just how diverse the RAG-Stiftung investments are can be seen in four examples from different parts of the world and different asset classes: infrastructure, real estate and private equity.

‘The RAG-Stiftung operates on a sound basis: our strategy of diversified investment has been successful for many years. Even in the second year of the pandemic, we managed to reliably achieve our objectives.’

Dr Jürgen Rupp,
Chief Financial Officer of the RAG-Stiftung

RAG-Stiftung, Essen

A.O. Schifffahrt

TK Elevator

Innovation and
Design Building

Bingo Industries,
Asian infrastructure fund

Bingo Industries, Asian infrastructure fund

Asset class: Infrastructure
Waste management and recycling
The Asian infrastructure fund consists of four investments in total: two in China and two in Australia, including Bingo Industries.
Bingo Industries Ltd. is active in waste management and recycling – both of which are amongst the largest challenges of our time in light of the increasing amounts of waste produced. The company specialises in building demolition and industrial waste. The investment here was made via a fund manager with experience in infrastructure projects around the world: the RAG-Stiftung invested in a regional fund in Asia to expand its infrastructure ratio on this dynamically growing market. In light of the long-term cash flows of infrastructure projects, the yield profile of the fund fits the perpetual obligations of the foundation. To date, the Asian region comprises four investments, two in China and two in Australia, including Bingo Industries.
With its headquarters in Sydney and Melbourne, Bingo is a global leader in waste management and recycling. © Bingo Industries

Innovation and Design Building

One of many individual real estate investments of the RAG-Stiftung: the Innovation and Design Building in Boston. © Jamestown L. P.
3000
people work in the popular Innovation and Design Building in Boston.

Innovation and Design Building

Asset class: Real estate
Architectural highlight in Boston’s Seaport District
> 200 companies, retail shops and restaurants located here
In the Seaport District of the North American metropolis of Boston, the RAG-Stiftung has one of its many investments in individual properties: the Innovation and Design Building (IDB). The RAG-Stiftung’s investment was carried out via the experienced American property manager Jamestown. Following its renovation, this former army storage facility built in 1918 developed into an architectural highlight, a lively and popular location in the innovation scene. The IDB now houses some 200 shops, restaurants and companies that provide jobs to 3000 people and range from fish processing to tech start-ups. The IDB is therefore a highlight in Boston’s up-and-coming Seaport District, which is among the most rapidly growing regions in the North American market.

TK Elevator

Asset class: Private equity
One of the world’s leading lift and elevator companies
> 1000 locations and some eight billion euros in annual sales
With more than 1000 locations and, most recently, sales of eight billion euros, TK Elevator is one of the world’s leading lift and elevator manufacturing companies. In 2020, thyssenkrupp AG sold the company to a financial consortium headed by the two private equity firms Advent and Cinven, with a stakeholding by the RAG-Stiftung. The service division with more than 24,000 technicians is an important segment of the company. The portfolio of products includes passenger and freight elevators as well as tailored solutions for modern highrise buildings. Additionally, the company offers escalators and passenger boarding bridges as well as stairlifts and platform lifts. With its range of products and services, TK Elevator is following two current megatrends: urbanisation, which means more and more buildings with elevators are being built, and demographic change, which comes with an ageing population and increased demand for lifts. TK Elevator operates in a growing future market.
24
technicians work for TK Elevator.
At 248 metres tall, the test tower of TK Elevator in the Chinese province of Guangdong is one of the tallest buildings in the world. The tower is used for high-speed tests and is designed for cableless elevator systems. © marcel lam photography
TK Elevator employees perform maintenance on elevators, escalators and lifts, making them an important service division of the company. © Klaus Mellenthin

A. O. Schifffahrt

This family-owned company got its start in 2003 with a single ship – today, ten bulk carriers sail the seas around the world. © Verwaltungsgesellschaft Alexander Oetker Schifffahrt mbH

A. O. Schifffahrt

Asset class: Infrastructure
Globally active logistics company
10 bulk carriers, 660,000 sea miles and 5 million tonnes of raw materials transported annually
Logistics is the engine of the economy, thus making it a crucial building block in the asset infrastructure. The RAG-Stiftung has invested in the ships of the Hamburg-based shipping company A. O. Schifffahrt, whose reach extends throughout the entire world. With its ten bulk carriers, the fleet travels some 660,000 nautical miles each year and transports nearly five million tonnes of raw materials in doing so. Due to its specialised charter practice, the company always enters into long-term engagements. In accordance with the guidelines of the International Maritime Organization, the company has made its goal to continue reducing carbon emissions in order to become emission-free as an industry by the year 2050. To this end, the company relies on modern and energy- efficient technical equipment and thus makes its contribution to ecological renewal.
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The topic of integration is inextricably linked with coal mining – as exemplified by the special exhibition ‘Wir sind von hier’ with photographs by Ergun Çağatay.
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