US telecoms firm Verizon has inked a deal with Prudential Financial and RGA that will see $5.9bn of pension liabilities transferred to the (re)insurance firms.
The pension risk transfer (PRT) transaction covers 56,000 retirees and their beneficiaries who started receiving benefits before 1 January 2023.
The members will be drawn from the Verizon Management Pension Plan and the Verizon Pension Plan for Associates
The obligations have been split almost 50:50 between the two carriers. However, Prudential will assume 100% of obligations in a certain number of unspecified jurisdictions.
The Prudential Insurance Company of America, a subsidiary of Prudential Financial, will assume complete responsibility for administrative services of all liabilities.
State Street Global Advisors Trust is the independent fiduciary of the two Verizon pension funds.
This is the second PRT between Verizon and Prudential; the two firms agreed a $7.5bn transfer in 2012 which covered roughly 41,000 retirees.
Prudential has been a major player in the US PRT sector, in September 2022 it signed a $16bn deal with IBM, while so far in 2024 it agreed a $4.9bn deal with Shell USA.
It has also been active internationally, taking the majority share of a $14.2bn longevity swap with Dutch financial services firm, NN Group.