Premium Pension Limited and Trustfund Pensions Limited have proposed a merger that will create Nigeria’s third-largest Pension Fund Administrator (PFA). This development was disclosed in a merger notification published by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Tuesday, July 8, 2026.
If approved, the proposed transaction will combine the businesses of both firms into a single entity to be known as Premium Trustfund Pensions Limited. This new entity is expected to rank third in the country’s pension industry.
The FCCPC notification stated that the transaction will be implemented through a Scheme of Merger, in line with Section 711 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020. Premium Pension and Trustfund Pensions are currently the 5th and 6th largest PFAs, respectively, with the combined entity projected to rank 3rd.
Under the arrangement, all assets, liabilities, and undertakings of Premium Pension will be transferred to Trustfund Pensions, after which Premium Pension will be dissolved without being wound up. Premium Pension was incorporated in 2005 and licensed by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in December of the same year. Trustfund Pensions was incorporated in 2004 and also received its PFA licence from PenCom in December 2005.
Both firms currently manage Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Funds I to VI, including the Micro Pension Fund for workers in the informal sector, and non-interest Shari’ah-compliant funds. They also administer Approved Existing Schemes, the Transitional Contributory Fund, Voluntary Contributions, and related pension administration services across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The companies anticipate that the merger will deliver strategic, operational, and financial benefits to contributors and other stakeholders. These gains include the creation of a top three pension fund administrator with greater scale and operational efficiency, allowing the combined entity to optimise costs, streamline processes, and improve service delivery.
The merger is also expected to strengthen investment management capabilities through deeper industry expertise, enhanced research, and improved asset allocation strategies. Furthermore, it aims to broaden the company’s national reach by leveraging the combined branch network and digital platforms of both organisations, and to diversify its product offerings to better serve Nigeria’s growing population of workers across both the formal and informal sectors.
This proposed merger comes amid recent regulatory shifts in Nigeria’s pension industry. Last week, PenCom granted a 24-month regulatory forbearance, permitting PFAs to invest in a broader range of securities issued by the parent companies of their respective Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs).
PenCom stated that this measure reflects prevailing market realities, including operational constraints and the limited availability of quality investable instruments in the domestic market. The forbearance is designed to provide PFAs with greater portfolio flexibility, expand the universe of eligible investments, improve diversification, and support the generation of optimal risk-adjusted returns for pension contributors.
