Pension Protection Fund (PPF) chief executive Alan Rubenstein has defended the fund's decision to take a stake in Jessops as part of a bid to save the company in 2009.
The PPF's very existence was criticised and was labelled as 'ironic' by a reader in last week's Financial Times' Letter section, following the demise of Jessops.
"There is no irony in the Pension Protection Fund doing what it was set up to do: that is, protect members of pension schemes whose employers- in this case Jessops- have gone bust," replied Rubenstein.
He continued: "Our 33% equity stake in Jessops was taken as part of a restructuring in 2009, which saw the pension scheme enter the PPF.
"We take stakes such as this so that those who pay for the protection can benefit from any successful business turnrounds. Unfortunately, in this case, there was no such turnround."
First published 21.01.2013
monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk
