Author: Samantha Downes

Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes seeking an insurer-led buy-out will, in many instances, have to divest themselves of any illiquid assets they hold in their investment portfolio. With buy-out activity almost touching £50bn in the UK’s bulk purchase annuity market in 2023, the divestment of illiquid assets has become a frenzied process.  In the last 20 years, the secondary market for illiquid assets – one of several ways schemes can offload their holdings – has grown to £100bn, according to the Setter Capital Volume Report FY 2023. But since September 2022, many DB schemes may have been selling their illiquid…

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The incoming Labour government was quick to make clear its commitment to the momentum sparked by last year’s Mansion House pension reforms.  During his brief tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt committed the then Conservative-led regime to an ambitious programme of pension reforms that, among many things, included encouraging more investment in UK companies.  His replacement, Rachel Reeves, wasted no time in launching what she claimed was a ‘landmark pension review’ to boost investment, increase pension pots and tackle waste in the pensions system.  In its Pensions Bill confirmed in the King’s Speech last month, the new government…

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