The National Grid U.K. Pension Scheme completed a 900-million-pound ($1.2 billion) risk transfer transaction via a buy-in from U.K. insurance provider Rothesay Life PLC that will cover 7,130 uninsured members of the pension plan, according to a Tuesday announcement from Rothesay.
The transaction is National Grid’s third, having previously de-risked 2.8 billion pounds of liabilities in 2019 and 800 million pounds in 2020, both with Rothesay.
“We carefully designed this transaction to meet the objectives of the Trustee and National Grid, and Rothesay provided the level of flexibility needed to meet the Scheme’s requirements,” said Mike Edwards, a partner in Aon PLC’s risk settlement group and the lead risk transfer adviser on the transaction, in a statement. “It is a competitive de-risking market for both schemes and insurers right now and to achieve such a positive outcome via an innovative transaction required a high degree of collaboration between all parties.”
Before the transaction, National Grid U.K. reported having 26,000 active, deferred, pensioner and dependent members. The scheme closed to new members in 2002.
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The National Grid transaction was the fourth buy-in in four months closed by Rothesay. In June, Rothesay completed a 20-million pound buy-in with the pension plan of Odeon Cinemas Group’s subsidiary, ABC Cinemas. In May, it completed a 120-million-pound buy-in with the AQA Pension Scheme, a nonprofit charity and examination board. In April, Rothesay completed a 105-million-pound buy-in with the Skipton Building Society Group Pension Scheme, sponsored by the U.K.’s fourth-largest building society.
Rothesay is one of the largest pension insurance specialists in the U.K. The insurer manages more than 70 billion pounds in assets, covering more than 1 million beneficiaries.
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Tags: Pension Risk Transfer
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