LCP advises the Marks & Spencer Pension Scheme on two further buy-ins totalling £750m

4 November 2020

LCP publishes on its website: “LCP has advised the Trustee of the Marks & Spencer Pension Scheme (the Scheme) on the purchase of two further pensioner buy-in policies with Aviva and Phoenix Life totalling approximately £750m.

These transactions follow execution of two similar buy-ins in March 2018 with Aviva and Phoenix Life and two pensioner buy-ins in April 2019 with Phoenix Life and Pension Insurance Corporation. The six buy-ins completed to date cover c.£3.7bn of pensioner liabilities.

LCP’s role as execution adviser on all six of these transactions has been part of its wider appointment to advise the Trustee on its strategy to reduce the Scheme’s longevity risk. Linklaters provided legal advice for the transactions.

These buy-ins have been executed using transaction schedules to the umbrella master agreements that the Trustee had agreed with Aviva and Phoenix Life in 2018. The combination of the same clear decision-making framework adopted in previous transactions and the ability to execute in this way allowed the Trustee to move quickly to purchase additional buy-ins when pricing opportunities arose earlier this year.”

Source: LCP