Investment - Articles - Rothesay agrees to 236m full scheme buy in for Signet Group

 As a full scheme buy-in, the transaction secures the defined benefit liabilities for the entire Scheme, including 825 deferred members and 1,084 pensioners in payment, who will become direct policyholders with Rothesay on completion of the intended buy-out of the Scheme in due course.

 The lead broker on the transaction was Mercer, acting for the Scheme. Legal advice was provided to the Scheme by Sackers and to Rothesay by Gowling WLG.

 Alan Baker, Chair of the Trustee representing LawDeb, said: “We are delighted to have worked with our sponsoring employer to secure the pension benefits for all our members with Rothesay. As a purpose-built insurer, Rothesay is an attractive partner for us to ensure our obligations are met and pension benefits provided in full. This is a great outcome for our members and has resulted from a really positive and successful collaboration between all those involved.”

 Tom Seecharan, Business Development at Rothesay, said: “The transition from quotation to signing in such an efficient time frame is a testament to the ambition, organisation and dynamism of the Scheme Trustees and its advisers. In a busy market our sophisticated risk and pricing systems allow us to transact at speed and offer schemes and sponsors the certainty they need to protect their members’ pensions.”

 David Ellis from Mercer, said: “We worked closely with the Scheme and trustee to ensure we were ready to transact when the Scheme funding level and market conditions were favourable. In this case, support from the sponsoring employer, combined with the co-operation between parties, ensured the process was completed efficiently, achieving long-term security for all members.”