Legal & General has agreed a £760 million buy-in with the Sanofi Pension Scheme, securing the benefits of 2,900 retirees.
The transaction represents the Scheme’s first Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) transaction with Legal & General, after being a long-term asset management client.
The Trustee was advised on the transaction by Aon and legal advice was provided by CMS. Legal & General received legal advice from Macfarlanes.
Gavin Smith, Head of Pricing & Execution, Legal & General Retirement Institutional commented: “It is always particularly rewarding to work with long-term clients like Sanofi and to enable them to further de-risk their Scheme.
“We take pride in providing certainty to trustees and members, and this agreement is another great example of our ability to support schemes at all stages of this journey.”
Lisa Shufflebottom, Trustee Secretary said: “The Trustee, with support from Sanofi, is very pleased to have secured a buy-in transaction with Legal & General.
“This buy-in is an important step in our long-term strategy and significantly reduces risk in the Scheme, thereby providing greater certainty about the future costs of providing members’ pensions.”
Maria Rodia, CMS said: “We were delighted to support the Sanofi Trustee on this buy-in transaction with Legal & General. It was a genuinely collaborative process working very closely with all parties to help the Trustee achieve its objective of reducing risk and securing members’ benefits – a great result all round.”
Mike Edwards, Aon added: “This buy-in was a great example of how the best value for money risk reduction is achieved through a full understanding of different risk exposures. This knowledge can then inform the right size and shape of transaction design.
“We’ve leveraged specialists in our team across investment, demographics and insurance to advise the Trustee and to help it achieve a great outcome for the members of the Sanofi Pension Scheme.”
