The CMS Life Pension and Longevity Risk Team has advised Pension Insurance Corporation (“PIC”), the UK’s leading specialist pension risk insurer, on a £1.6bn pension buy-in transaction with the Trustees of the Total UK Pension Plan and the associated longevity reinsurance arrangements.
The deal is the second largest pensioner buy-in to have been completed in the UK market to date, and has been described as a “landmark transaction” for PIC.
The CMS team was led by London partners James Parker, Mike Munro and Pete Coyne, assisted by Aaron Fairhurst, Philipp Melzer, Richard Ham, Lisa Brown, Kirsten Thompson, Jenny Nanalal, Stefan Ueding, Elizabeth Campbell and Henriika Hara.
James Parker, who co-heads the CMS Life Pension and Longevity Risk Team with Mike Munro, commented: “We’re delighted to have supported PIC in bringing this major transaction to a successful close. It’s been a tremendously collaborative exercise between PIC, the Trustees and the respective advisers on what was a complex and innovative transaction.”
Mike Munro commented: “Closing both the buy-in and the associated reinsurance arrangements at the same time required close co-operation between all parties and advisers up and down the transactional chain. This was quite some achievement in a very tight timeframe.”
Pete Coyne added: “We took the view at CMS three years ago that we needed a multi-disciplinary, multi-national team devoted to the pensions buy-in/out and longevity markets. The successful delivery of this transaction by the CMS Life Pension and Longevity Risk Team for our key client, PIC, further cements the reputation of the Team which is now recognized as a leader in the rapidly developing pensions and annuity de-risking market, and as one of the “go-to” advisors in Europe and beyond for high-value insurance transactional work”
