PIC publishes on its website:
“Pension Insurance Corporation plc (“PIC”), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds, has concluded a pension insurance buy-in with the Trustee of the Somerfield Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”), insuring £425 million of pension liabilities. This buy-in will mean that while the Trustee retains responsibility for paying the Scheme’s pensioners, it will receive regular payments from PIC to fund these pension payments into the future. The Scheme is one of several sponsored by the Co-operative Group, in aggregate with around £13 billion of liabilities. The lead transaction adviser to the Trustee was Aon, with legal advice from Eversheds Sutherland and investment advice from Mercer. PIC was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills.
This transaction follows a successful 2018 for PIC, when it wrote £7.1 billion of new business with the trustees of 30 pension schemes (2017: £3.7 billion across 20 schemes).
The Co-op is one of the world’s largest consumer co-ops, owned by millions of members. It has the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, the UK’s number one funeral services provider, a major general insurance business, and a developing legal services business.”