Rothesay Life has announced that it has entered into a £111 million bulk annuity transaction with the Western United Group Pension Scheme, securing a further tranche of the Scheme’s pensioner liabilities for current and former employees of the Vestey Group.
- The transaction involved an exchange of cash and UK gilts for a bulk annuity insurance policy that provides close matching to the Trustees’ chosen portion of the Scheme’s liabilities
- Since the buy-in policy has been purchased as an investment by the Scheme, the administration and payment of members’ benefits are unaffected by this transaction
- This transaction is the second insurance contract between the Scheme and Rothesay Life following last year’s £115m policy
Over the last 12 months Rothesay Life has written £1.7 billion of new business and reports a strong pipeline of opportunities, which are expected to produce a flow of new business into 2015.
Rothesay Life CEO, Addy Loudiadis, said: “Repeat business is the best endorsement. Vestey has returned to insure more of their pension liabilities with Rothesay Life, the fifth time in recent years that a client has done so.
She continued: “We are continuing to see interest from trustees and their corporates in derisking their pension liabilities and 2014 is on track to be a record year. Those that can react quickly and efficiently to opportunities, like Vestey, are likely to achieve the best outcomes.”
Ben Fowler, Group Head of Reward for Vestey Group Ltd, said: “For many years now, we have been working hard to fully de-risk this scheme, and this transaction is the next step in that journey. We returned to Rothesay Life because they provided a low-risk solution with operational precision and accompanying longevity, pension increase and re-investment protection.”
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