Legal & General Assurance Society Limited has completed a £21 million full-scheme buy-in with Barnett & Hall Holdings Pension Scheme.
The deal secures benefits for around 110 pension scheme members, of which 105 are non-pensioner members.
BHH Limited is a subsidiary of W&R Barnett Limited, which is a fourth-generation family business established in 1896 and is a holding company of international services including trading, storage, agribusiness and industrial companies.
This announcement marks the scheme’s first pension risk transfer transaction with Legal & General, but the parties involved say they are now interested in working together towards another potential future buyout.
“Having built a strong reputation for transacting with a variety of scheme sizes and membership profiles at effective pricing levels, we were able to agree a partnership with the Trustees,” said Matthew Dales, Actuarial Manager, Legal & General Retirement Institutional. “We look forward to welcoming our new pension members to Legal & General as we work with the Trustees on the last stage of their de-risking journey.”
Declan Billington, Chair of Trustees, also commented: “We are delighted to secure this buy-in with Legal & General, meaning all Scheme benefits are now covered by insurance contracts. The increased security means it is a great result for members, with the focused approach taken in collaboration with the Company and advisers meaning we were able to engage with L&G in a busy market to provide us with a solution which met our objectives much sooner than expected.”
William Barnett, W&R Barnett Limited Chief Executive, further stated: “This is a fantastic result for both the Trustee and the Company. To be able to work collaboratively with the Trustee to secure member benefits is a great outcome. Working with PwC as an independent transaction advisor meant we were able to call on their experience of executing PRT transactions. This, coupled with their market relationships and view of live market pricing for similar schemes with a significant non-pensioner membership meant we could secure the transaction with no further contributions required.”
“We are pleased to have supported the Company and Trustee in executing this bulk insurance transaction,” added Ross Breckon, Pension Risk Transfer Specialist at PwC. “PwC’s role as the independent transaction advisor meant we were able to engage with the insurance market without any conflicts of interest. This meant we could achieve the desired terms and pricing based on the transaction objectives established by the Company and Trustees.”
PwC UK acted as lead transaction advisor on this deal, while Pinsent Masons provided legal advice to the Trustee.
