The insurance transactions cover £300m worth of benefits for 2,400 members of two Unisys schemes.
Two pension schemes linked to multinational technology firm Unisys have sealed buy-ins worth a combined £300m with Standard Life.
The transactions concluded in November 2023 and secured the benefits of approximately 2,400 members of the iPSL Section of the Unisys Payment Services Limited Pension Scheme and the Unisys Public Sector Pension Scheme.
Hetal Kotecha, trustee director at Independent Governance Group and chair of the trustee board for the two schemes, said the buy-in policies aided the schemes by “significantly reducing risk and maintaining the security of our members’ benefits”.
Kotecha added that the transactions were “the culmination of a wider journey of de-risking… with the support of the sponsoring employers”.
The trustee board went to market in search of a potential insurance partner in early 2023, according to a statement from Standard Life. After a period of monitoring funding positions and pricing, the schemes reached a point in the second half of 2023 at which securing a buy-in became affordable.
The execution of the transactions took just three weeks, according to Standard Life.
Kieran Mistry, senior business development manager at Standard Life, said: “The co-operation and engagement of all parties was exceptional, facilitating these buy-ins on accelerated timelines, and re-enforcing the importance of being adaptable and agile.
“This transaction demonstrates the value of close partnerships between schemes and insurers, following the blueprint we have developed with a number of schemes over recent years. Processes like this benefit from focus, attention and preparation of all parties to identify and capture opportunities which would otherwise be missed in a conventional market broking process.”
The buy-ins form part of a wider pension de-risking programme across Unisys’s operations. The company secured a $250m (£196m) bulk annuity deal with US insurer F&G Annuities & Life to secure the benefits of approximately 3,900 retirees and their beneficiaries. This transaction was also completed in November 2023.
Three of Unisys’s UK schemes – including the Unisys Public Sector Pension Scheme – appointed Cardano as fiduciary manager in August 2022 to oversee £1.2bn in assets.
