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CMS advises Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund on £1.8bn buy-in with Standard Life

14 January 2022

International law firm CMS has advised the Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund (“The Fund”) in relation to its £1.8bn bulk purchase annuity transaction with Standard Life, covering benefits of 6,600 defined benefit pension fund members. CMS were asked to advise the Fund as Transaction Counsel, alongside its existing advisers, owing to the highly bespoke nature of the transaction.

Imperial Tobacco is a British multinational headquartered in Bristol. The arrangement represents the Fund’s first bulk purchase annuity buy-in and forms part of the Fund’s strategy to reduce risks associated with pension fund liabilities and improve security of its members’ benefits.

James Parker, Partner at CMS, who led the transaction, comments: “We are pleased to have advised on this highly bespoke and innovative transaction with Standard Life. It was a genuinely collaborative process between all the parties to help the Trustee achieve its objectives to protect its members and reduce the risks associated with holding pensions scheme liabilities. We look forward to witnessing the Fund’s continued success in its de-risking journey.”

The CMS team was led by James Parker, with support from India Trusselle, Marion Carpanen and Patrick Donegan. 

This transaction is another great example of CMS’ market leading reputation in acting as Transaction Counsel for pension schemes in de-risking transactions.  It is also the latest in what has been a very busy period for the CMS Pensions de-risking team, having advised on over £18 billion worth of buy-in and buy-out transactions in 2021, including most recently advising the Trustee of the Sanofi Pension Scheme on a £760m buy-in with Legal & General and advising the Trustee of the Fujitsu General (U.K) Co. Limited Pension and Life Assurance Plan on a full buy-in transaction with Aviva.

Related people

Portrait ofJames Parker
James Parker
Partner
London
Portrait ofMarion Carpanen
Marion Carpanen
Senior Associate
London
Portrait ofPatrick Donegan
Patrick Donegan
Partner
London
India Trusselle
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