Author: LMI Newsdesk

Life settlements investor Obra Capital has completed its acquisition of Unified Life Insurance Company, a life and health insurance carrier with approximately 100,000 active policy holders, and 49 associated licenses. “We are pleased to welcome the Unified team and the business and the platform they will continue to grow with Obra. Unified is a natural fit within our evolving and differentiated longevity strategy that is designed to balance longevity and mortality risk to provide investors with expected stable and resilient cash flows, lower overall portfolio volatility, and greater targeted absolute returns. We believe this is a unique offering that extends…

David Burrowes has been reappointed to serve as Chair of UK-based industry group the Equity Release Council, a position he has held since 2017, for a third and final term. “It has been a privilege to represent Council members during a period when lifetime mortgages have moved into the mainstream conversation about later life finances,” Burrowes said. “The Council plays a unique role by bringing specialists together from across the market to work together and set standards for the good of consumers. This has seldom been more visible than during challenging economic times this year and during the Covid-19 pandemic,…

Dutch insurance and asset management firm NN Group has signed €13bn ($14.2bn) worth of longevity risk transfer deals with Prudential Financial and Swiss Re. The Rotterdam business said in a 19 December press release the transaction was struck by its subsidiary NN Life. The deal transfers the longevity risk contained in 300,000 policies in NN Group’s portfolio of companies, which includes insurer Delta Lloyd. The reinsurance agreements will come into force on 31 December 2023 and will stay in place until the portfolio has run off. NN Life will continue to administer and guarantee the policies. The transactions with Prudential…

Chemring pension fund has signed a £65m ($81m) buy-in deal to transfer all the scheme’s liabilities to Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC). The UK firm, which provides tech services to the aerospace sector, has transferred a total of 485 current pensioners and 328 deferred members to the insurer. The latest deal means that PIC is providing pensions to a total of 339,000 people and it’s now managing just shy of £45bn-worth of assets. Barnett Waddingham was the lead transaction adviser and scheme actuary, and Burges Salmon provided legal advice to the fund. News of the Chemring transaction came a few days…

The UK arm of aerospace and defence firm Thales has offloaded its pension scheme to Rothesay Life in a £2.7bn ($.34bn) deal with the insurer. The transaction was announced on December 1 and covers the whole of the Thales UK pension scheme. It means Rothesay takes responsibility for the benefits of over 16,000 fund members; 10,512 pensioners and dependents as well as 5,915 deferred members. The deal included an undisclosed cash payment by Thales and involved the transfer of over £750m of illiquid assets held within the pension scheme to Rothesay. Lead transaction advisers were PWC and A&O’ Rothesay received legal…

Alternative credit investor BroadRiver Asset Management has completed its acquisition of the US & Bermuda businesses of Lombard International Group. “This transaction is an outstanding opportunity for BroadRiver and its investors and an additional step in BroadRiver’s strategic expansion into the insurance sector,” said Andrew Plevin, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of BroadRiver. “We look forward to supporting the sustained development of Lombard US/BDA’s position in specialty life insurance and variable annuity products,” he added. Michael Farrell, previously Chairman, President and CEO of MetLife Insurance Company of Connecticut, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Lombard US/BDA and Tom Considine, CEO of…

Aliso Viejo-based longevity manager expands its leadership and business development teams. Longevity-focused asset manager, Preston Capital LLC, has hired David Posnick, a former Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Anne Buchanan, former Head of Distribution for Obra Capital (formerly known as Vida Capital), as it launches a new comingled fund. Posnick has joined Preston as Executive Chairman. Most recently Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Distressed Investing at Blackstone, Posnick had been with Blackstone Credit (previously known as GSO Capital Partners) since 2007. “David has a wealth of knowledge that spans across multiple decades and investment cycles. He has seen…

Unisys has bought a $250m group annuity contract from F&G Annuities & Life which will transfer a substantial portion of the tech firm’s US pension liabilities to the insurer. Two F&G subsidiaries – Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company, and Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company of New York – will take responsibility for pension benefits for approximately 3,900 retirees and beneficiaries. As part of the deal, Unisys expects to make a one-time, non-cash, pre-tax settlement charge of approximately $244m. The annuity purchase will be made by the pension trust meaning there will be no impact on Unisys cash position.…

UK retailer Co-op has insured the final tranche of its pension scheme liabilities in a £4bn ($5bn) deal with insurer Rothesay. The deal involves transferring almost 50,000 scheme members, made up of 17,655 pensioners and dependents and 31,896 deferred members and is the fourth deal between the two parties following three buy-in transactions in 2020. The pension scheme’s sponsor is the Co-operative Group and, in a press release, Rothesay said that no additional contribution from the employer was required as the fund was in surplus and illiquid assets in its investment portfolio were used to pay the buy-in premium. The…

UK pharmacy chain Boots has agreed a £4.8bn pension fund buy-in deal with Legal & General which covers all 53,000 retirees and deferred members of the scheme. According to a press release by the insurer, the transaction is the largest single deal by premium size in the UK, the most members taken on by Legal & General in a single deal. Boots’ decision to offload its pension scheme is part of a more than two decade-long pension de-risking process by the retailer. Its 2001 switch of its asset allocation from equities to bonds made it the first pension fund to deploy…