Rothesay Life has announced that it has completed a £500 million buy-out of the Western United Group Pension Scheme. The buy-out was concluded with a £280 million bulk annuity.
- Today’s transaction is the final one of three bulk annuity deals between Rothesay Lifeand the Scheme; the insurer had previously secured over £220 million of the Scheme’sliabilities
- Now that the liabilities for current and former employees of the Vestey Group are fully secured, the transaction is expected to result in the Scheme starting to wind up.
- Rothesay Life has now completed 6 of the 10 largest pension buy-outs
Rothesay Life’s Managing Director, Tom Pearce, said: “It is always satisfying when clients return for repeat business and we are pleased to have been able to support Vestey in achieving its objective of a full buy-out of its defined benefit pension scheme in three transactions in under two years. In 2014, we continue to see growing demand for full buyouts from corporates. Rothesay’s leading position in this market is demonstrated by our completion of 6 out of the 10 largest such transactions.”
Peter Thompson of BESTrustees, Trustee Chair of Western United Group Pension Scheme, said: “Earlier in the year the Trustees were not expecting a full buy-out to be achievable for some time. So we were very pleased that Rothesay Life, in conjunction with our pensions team, were able to move very quickly to deliver a comprehensive solution and provide security for our members well ahead of schedule.”
Ben Fowler, Group Head of Reward for Vestey Group Ltd, said: “This is a very positive outcome both for Scheme members and for the Vestey Group. Less than two years ago we could not have envisaged securing a full buy-out over this timeframe. It requires a great deal of preparation and collaborative effort to complete these deals and we have been fortunate to have a committed group of trustees, advisers and Rothesay Life to help make this happen.”
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