Author: LMI Newsdesk

UK consulting firm Hymans Robertson recently surveyed 250 finance and pension decision-makers in UK companies, covering a range of topics including: respondents’ strategic pension priorities over the next few years, respondents’ views on defined benefit (DB) endgame strategies, the impact of the Pension Schemes Act 2021 on company planning and financial activity, respondents’ views on future retirement provision and government policy, and corporate and trustee governance. The results suggests that almost half (48%) of UK defined benefit pension schemes intend to insure their plans via a buy-out solution in the next decade. However, 45% of these schemes are concerned about…

Specialist materials manufacturer Owens Corning has agreed a deal with an unnamed insurer to offload nearly $300m of its pension liabilities via a bulk purchase annuity contract. The Ohio-based firm made the statement in a 10-Q filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission where it revealed a $291m deal to offload both US and non-US pension liabilities was struck on October 12 this year. The deal is slated to close in the fourth quarter of 2023 and in its 10K filing, Owen Corning said that the transaction would be funded via the pension scheme’s $268m worth of assets. As part…

Dallas-based ATI Inc has signed a group annuity deal with pension risk transfer (PRT) specialist Athene which will see 85% of its pension obligations transferred to the insurer. ATI Inc announced this week that it has signed a deal to purchase group annuity contracts from Athene Annuity and Life Company and Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company of New York to offload the majority of its pension scheme. ATI Inc’s defined benefit pension plans had liabilities of $1.77bn at the end of 2022 according to the announcement, which did not specify the value of the annuity contract. The deals will…

Aquarian Holdings is taking a minority stake in life settlements investor Obra Capital. Aquarian is a diversified holding company with interests in businesses including insurance, asset management, real estate and technology; the firm is replacing Reverence Capital, which has been an investor in Obra since 2019. “This transaction provides Aquarian with access to additional alternative investment capabilities, strengthening our expanding financial services platform,” said Rudy Sahay, founder and Managing Partner at Aquarian. “We look forward to working with Obra as it grows and benefitting from the many synergies between our firms.” Obra Capital – previously Vida Capital until a re-brand…

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group Pension Scheme has completed a £335m ($410m) bulk purchase annuity (BPA) deal with Standard Life, which covers the benefits of 1,740 scheme members. The transaction with Standard Life, part of the Phoenix Group, covers both of the LSE’s pension schemes, one for the LSE itself and the second for its associated clearing operation, LCH, and was completed in May this year. Aon acted as lead adviser on the deal while legal advice was given to the trustees by Eversheds Sutherland and investment advice by pensions consultancy Redington. Standard Life was advised by Herbert Smith…

The Northern Bank Pension Scheme has signed a £286m ($350m) bulk purchase annuity (BPA) deal that sees UK insurer Prudential take on the benefits of nearly additional 2,000 members. The latest deal sees 1.917 members of the Northern Bank Pension Scheme added to Prudential’s books, following a previous $830m deal in 2015 which covered 2,000 pensioner members and was the largest BPA in the UK that year. The Northern Bank Pension Scheme also struck two deals worth a combined $380m with Aviva Life & Pensions UK, which covered 800 members in 2021. WTW advised the trustee on risk settlement aspects…

Legal & General has struck a £340m ($416m) buy-in deal with the Cable & Wireless Superannuation Fund, which sees the UK insurer take on the retirement benefits of roughly 1,800 retirees and deferred members. Cable & Wireless is part of Liberty Latin America, a multi-national firm which provides telecommunications services in more than 20 countries. In a press release, Legal & General said that the fund had been a long-standing client of Legal & General Investment Management. This is the third and final deal between the firms with Cable & Wireless carrying out its first buy-in with Legal & General…

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…

The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA) recently elected 3 new members to its Executive Board during the ELSA Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday, September 11th. Their terms will officially begin on January 1st, 2024. The newly appointed board members are Chris Conway of ISC Services, Hanna Persson of Ress Capital and Jule Rousseau of ArentFox Schiff. ELSA’s Executive Director, Chris Wells, expressed his enthusiasm for the new board members and their potential contributions. “We are delighted to welcome Chris, Hanna, and Jule to our Executive Board. Their expertise will strengthen ELSA’s position as a leading voice in the European…

Prudential Financial and private equity firm Warburg Pincus have launched Prismic Life Reinsurance company in Bermuda, in conjunction with a group of investors, in order to target the structured settlement annuity market. Prismic Life is a licensed Class E reinsurer and, in a press release announcing the move, Prudential said that it expects to reinsure blocks of structured settlement annuity contracts against roughly $10bn of capital reserves. The New Jersey-based insurers said that Prismic is intended to be a strategic reinsurance partner for the firm and PGIM and Warburg Pincus will provide asset management services to the reinsurer. The company…