UK – The Tate & Lyle Group's main defined benefit pension scheme has agreed a £347m (€405m) buy-in with Legal & General (L&G), in a deal covering almost half of the scheme's pensioner liabilities.

The buy-in covers about 43% of total pensioner liabilities at the Tate & Lyle group pension scheme, the food group's main UK defined benefit scheme, effectively hedging those obligations in full, the company said.

Tim Lodge, Tate & Lyle's CFO, said: "This transaction is an important step in our strategy to work with our schemes' trustees and fiduciaries to reduce pension risk on a phased basis over time."

It said the buy-in also represented around 30% of the Tate & Lyle group pension scheme's total liabilities, based on the 'technical provision' assumptions agreed with the scheme trustee at the last valuation.

The £347m premium for the bulk annuity policy will be paid in a combination of assets and cash from the scheme, the company said.

Members will not see any changes in the way their pensions are paid out, with L&G paying the trustee the equivalent of benefits payable to three out of every seven members of the scheme.

Pension liabilities will remain with the group scheme, and the L&G annuity policy will be held within the group scheme as an investment of the trustee.