Legal & General has completed a £1.1bn buyout of the 11,000 members Vickers Group pension scheme – part of the Rolls-Royce Group – in what it stated was the largest risk transfer transaction in 2016.
The Rolls-Royce Group pension scheme is a long standing client of Legal & General Investment Management, which handles an estimated £12bn of assets on the schemes’ behalf.
Legal & General partnered with advisers at Mercer to complete the deal and achieve a full buyout.
The company said the transaction was "a fantastic result in a period that has seen challenging news for pensions and members in general and a change to the insurance regulatory regime."
Phill Beach, head of core pension risk transfer at Legal & General, said: “We are delighted that the Vickers trustees chose to work with Legal & General and ultimately secured their members’ benefits with us. We were pleased to work with Rolls-Royce, the Vickers scheme and their advisers on what proved to be a very smooth transition.
"This is a significant transaction which demonstrates that with strong company backing and a trustee who manages risk well the objective of buyout is fully achievable even when markets appear volatile.”
Joel Griffin head of pensions at Rolls-Royce, said: "This is a great testimony to the work of the trustees, their advisers and the company who have worked collaboratively over many years to ensure that this scheme is well funded with a prudent investment strategy.
"This has ultimately enabled us to deliver this excellent outcome for former Vickers employees."
