UK asset manager M&G has signed two bulk purchase annuity (BPA) deals with a combined value of £617m; one with an in-house scheme and the other with an as-yet-unnamed third party.
The first transaction is a £331m buy-in for the M&G Group Pension Scheme, one of several pension schemes run by the London-based money manager.
M&G’s wholly-owned insurance subsidiary is The Prudential Assurance company, which specialises in the life and pensions sector. The unnamed BPA is valued at £286m. M&G said it would release further details on that transaction next week.
In a press release announcing the move M&G said that the two deals marked the firm’s re-entry into the UK pension risk transfer market (PRT).
The trustee was advised by Aon as risk settlement adviser and scheme actuary Hymans Robertson as investment adviser with Mayer Brown International LLP as legal adviser. Eversheds-Sutherland provided legal advice to M&G.
The deal marks a return to activity in the UK PRT sector which had seen a slight drop-off in August and September after a record-breaking first half of the year.
