Author: Aaron Woolner

GWG Holdings, which invests in a number of insurance markets, including life settlements, has completed its bankruptcy process, according to a filing with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. According to the filing, the bankruptcy plan was approved by the court on June 20 and became effective on  August 1 2023. GWG first filed for bankruptcy in April 2022 and the move was sparked by its default on bond payments two months earlier. A large number of retail investors put money in GWG, meaning the firm has 27,000 creditors. Mayer Brown served as restructuring counsel to…

Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) has struck a £5bn ($6.4bn) longevity swap with the UK-based BT Pension Scheme (BTPS). BTPS is one of the UK’s largest pension funds, with 270,000 members and nearly £50bn of assets under management. The deal with RGA is a combination of longevity insurance, with a reinsurance component, and is the second such transaction the scheme has completed. In 2014 the scheme agreed a £16bn longevity swap with the Prudential Insurance Company of America, which at the time was three times bigger than any previous similar transaction. In a press release announcing the move, BTPS said…

Standard Life has signed a £1.2bn ($1.5bn) bulk purchase annuity deal (BPA) with UK bar and restaurant firm Mitchells & Butlers. The BPA deal covers over 20,000 members of the Mitchells & Butlers pension plan, both deferred members and pensioners. The transaction was concluded in May and it now means that all members of both the Mitchells & Butlers Pension Plan, and the Mitchells & Butlers Executive Pension Plan are now fully insured. In a press release announcing the deal, the chairman of the pension plan trustees said that the deal followed strong investment performance and as a result had…

The UK pension fund of Australian flag carrier Qantas has conducted a £40m ($51m) buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), the second such deal between the two firms. The first deal, valued at £25m, took place in 2018 and according to a statement released by PIC, the follow-up transaction means that all Qantas UK pension scheme member benefits are now fully insured. The latest transaction covers the benefits of 62 current pensioners and 168 deferred members. The chairman of the pension scheme trustees said in the PIC statement that the latest transaction was part of an Aon-devised de-risking strategy which…

UK insurer Aviva has completed a £120m ($154m) buy-in deal with the NTL 1999 Pension Scheme that will cover the benefits of roughly 650 scheme members. The NTL 1999 Pension Scheme covers former employees of National Transcommunications Limited (NTL), the privatised UK Independent Broadcasting Authority transmission-network which was rebranded NTL in 1998. The deal does not fully insure the NTL 1999 Pension Scheme liabilities. But in a statement announcing the deal, Ross Russell, the chair of the fund’s trustees, said that the deal stabilised the fund and formed part of a long-term goal. The tender process for the buy-in was…

Abacus Life Settlements and an affiliate, Longevity Market Assets, listed on the NASDAQ exchange in early July. The move came as part of a $618m merger with East Resources Acquisition Company, a Florida-based special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The combined firms will trade under the name Abacus Life and will use the ticker ABL. The listing comes shortly after the specialist Life Settlement firm appointed Nicholas Sawuk as Managing Director as part of what the company says in an expansion strategy which has seen headcount increase 43% of the last 12 months. Abacus Life Settlements was established  in 2004,…

The pension scheme of UK property services firm Hammerson Group has signed a £90m ($118m) bulk annuity deal with FTSE listed retirement specialists, Just Group. Although the deal has only just been announced it was completed at the end of 2022, according to a press release from actuarial consultants LCP, which advised the trustees. The deal insures retirement benefits for the entire pension scheme, the size of which was not disclosed in the release.  According to LCP, the bulk annuity transaction was the culmination of a pensions de-risking strategy which has seen Hammerson providing a corporate guarantee and injecting £55m…

The world’s third largest asset manager, Fidelity Investments, is entering the US pension risk transfer (PRT) market by setting up a reinsurance arm in Bermuda.   The US PRT market is set for a record-breaking 2023, and the Boston-headquartered fund manager becomes the latest firm to look for opportunities in the sector. Other recent entrants have included Reinsurance Group of America, Global Atlantic and American National.    Fidelity has set-up Soteria Re in Bermuda as a vehicle to enter the US PRT sector but so far there is limited information about the firm with its website simply saying, “coming soon”.…

The US pension risk transfer (PRT) market saw its biggest year in 2022, with AON recording a total of 568 transactions, worth $52bn — a 28% rise on the previous year and a record for the sector. This heightened level of activity has continued into 2023 with Legal & General Retirement America’s (LGRA) Q1 2023 PRT Monitor reporting around $6bn worth of deals in the first three months of 2023, ahead of the $5.3bn recorded a year earlier. LGRA said it was likely the first half of 2023 would see a record $23bn worth of transactions. Big name US corporates…

UK water services firm, United Utilities has struck a $2.3bn  bulk purchase annuity deal (BPA) with insurer Legal & General. In a press release announcing the move the utility provider said that it had transferred roughly two thirds of its pension obligations which will now be administered and paid by Legal & General. United Utilities’ press release did not specify the exact number of pension scheme members being transferred to Legal & General but the firm closed its plan to new members in 2006 and subsequently offered a mixture of defined contributions and hybrid plans to its employees. Legal &…