Author: Aaron Woolner

Newell Brands has signed a bulk purchase annuity deal with an unnamed US insurer which will see the firm transfer up to $175m of pension scheme liabilities off its balance sheet. The deal by Atlanta-based home goods manufacturer was revealed in a October 27 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and is the second such transaction it has conducted. The latest deal will see Newell Brands transfer between $160m and $175m of pension liabilities to the insurer, accounting for 55% of its total pension scheme liabilities, according to the firm’s regulatory filing. Newell previously bought a group…

The Bayer Group Pension Plan has offloaded a major chunk of its liabilities after striking a £280m ($340m) buy-in deal with insurer Canada Life. Canada Life now has responsibility for about 40% of the pensions in payment liabilities of the UK arm of the German pharmaceutical firm, covering about 1,400 scheme members. This is the first transaction of its type for the pension plan but further deals could be on the horizon, given that an umbrella contract was also signed as part of the deal which will enable Bayer to offload further liabilities in the future. Actuarial consultant LCP acted…

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…

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…

A number of factors determine an individual’s likely life expectancy: Past medical history, smoking, gender, age, and most importantly, socio-economic status. The link between the latter and life expectancy is well documented with a broad range of data to support it.   A 2019 study by Drexel University, for example, found the average life expectancy for the lowest socio-economic groups in the US to be nine to 12 years below that of people the same age in the highest socio-economic cohort.    But according to Sacha Dhamani, chair of the Mortality and Morbidity Research Steering Committee at the UK’s Institute and Faculty…

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…

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…