Rothesay Life has secured another tranche of liabilities from the Western United Group Pension Scheme, after completing a £111m (€134m) buy-in transaction.
The scheme currently has around 14,000 members with around £500m in assets, of which £115m were insured in early 2013.
The arrangement covers former employees of the Vestey Group, and was secured through the exchange of cash and UK gilts in return for the insurance policy.
Group head of reward for Vestey Group, Ben Fowler, said the transaction represented the next step in the scheme’s de-risking strategy.
“We returned to Rothesay Life because they provided a low-risk solution with operational precision and accompanying longevity, pension increase and re-investment protection,” he added.
In other bulk annuity news, Just Retirement has completed a £36.5m single medically underwritten buy-in transaction, which it believes is the largest of its kind.
The deal covers 200 members of a pension scheme in the shipping industry, who are all aged between 65 and 80. The insurer gathered medical information by conducting telephone interviews with an 85% response rate.
It was agreed purely through a transfer of assets, with no additional cash contributions from the sponsoring company.
Just Retirement director of DB solutions, Tim Coulson said: “The industry in which the members of the scheme worked resulted in a prevalence of medical and lifestyle conditions that was not fully reflected by traditional rating factors.”
The scheme was advised by LCP,with partner Clive Wellsteed, said: “This is an interesting transaction for a scheme that is unlikely to have completed a buy-in without the advent of medical underwriting.”
Lastly, the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) has appointed Allianz Global Investors as investment strategy advisers, who will look to provide the DC-trust with scenario modeling.
Allianz will also provide the fund with advice on the investment strategy of its target-date funds, as well as capital market assumptions, risk management and analysing the expected risk and returns from the fund’s investments.
The company said its offering would support, and be complementary to, NEST’s in-house investment team, with advice coming on a project-by-project basis.
Mark Fawcett, CIO of the fund, said the appointment of Allianz GI was due to a previous successful relationship.
Elizabeth Corley, CEO of Allianz GI, said: “By offering our independent investment advisory expertise, we are pleased to be supporting NEST giving employers, from the smallest firms to the largest organisations.”
No comments yet