The British Board of Agrément Pension and Life Assurance Scheme has secured a £20m full scheme bulk purchase annuity buy-out with Aviva.
The scheme is sponsored by the British Board of Agrément Holdings Limited, a construction product performance assessment, testing and certification firm. The transaction secures the benefits of all 39 deferred members and 82 pensioner members in the scheme, covering all of the scheme’s liabilities.
“The trustees are delighted to have reached this significant milestone. Being able to secure members’ benefits in full seemed a long way off a few years back. However, favourable market conditions, contributions from the BBA and careful forward planning to get “buy-out ready” have meant that we could enter into an insurance transaction very smoothly and much earlier than anticipated, notwithstanding the complications of an ongoing final salary link and some unusual pension increases,” said Jonathan Hazlett, Trustee Chair.
“We were very pleased to be selected by the trustees for this transaction. Our priority was to work collaboratively towards a successful outcome for all parties, and this was helped by excellent preparation by Broadstone. We look forward to working with the trustees and their advisers to conclude the data cleanse, ensuring the highest standard of service for members after buy-out,” said Arpan Shah, Deal Manager at Aviva.
Broadstone was appointed as lead deal adviser adding to their longstanding appointment as actuary, administrator and investment consultant. Open Trustees Limited was the scheme’s independent trustee chair acting alongside two member-nominated trustees. Osborne Clarke acted as legal adviser to the trustees.
“I have been involved with this scheme for seven years, becoming scheme actuary at a time when funding was very tight and a buy-out seemed a long way off. It has been extremely rewarding to work with a highly engaged set of trustees who have worked hard to get the scheme to this point. The teams at Broadstone, Open Trustees and Osborne Clarke have ensured the scheme was in excellent shape to approach the market which led to attractive terms from Aviva and, ultimately, a positive outcome for all members,” said Mark Channon, Deal Lead and Scheme Actuary at Broadstone.