On the go: The £1.7bn TI Group Pension Scheme has completed a £640mn buy-in with Rothesay, covering its remaining uninsured members.
This is the seventh bulk annuity transaction for the scheme sponsored by engineering company Smiths Group, covering the liabilities of around 8,000 pensioners and a further 7,950 deferred members.
Securing this final buy-in enables the scheme to progress to buyout and wind up over the coming years, it stated.
Over the past 14 years, the scheme has completed three buy-ins with Rothesay, two with Pension Insurance Corporation, one with Legal & General and one with Aviva.
TI Group Pension Scheme trustee chair Chris Surch noted that the transaction provides members with “long-term financial security and completes our derisking journey”.
Smiths Group chief executive Paul Keel said: “We have supported the scheme over many decades and made significant cash contributions.
“That funding, combined with excellent stewardship by the scheme’s trustee, has meant that the scheme can now be fully derisked for the benefit of members and the group.”
Aon was the lead broker on the transaction, while legal advice was provided to the scheme by Mayer Brown and to Rothesay by Travers Smith, DLA Piper and Eversheds.
