CMS advised Legal & General Assurance Society (Legal & General) on its fourth and final buy-in policy with the British Steel Pension Scheme (the Scheme), totalling £2.7bn, under which the remaining 40% of liabilities were insured.
Legal & General has now insured £7.5bn of the Scheme’s liabilities, securing the benefits of all c.67,000 retired and deferred members. CMS advised on all the transactions comprising the insurance, which was implemented through a series of phased buy-ins over an 18-month period. The Scheme has now insured all its liabilities with Legal & General and becomes the largest scheme in the UK to have secured full insurance.
Thomas Lockley, Partner, CMS commented: “We are pleased to be able to support our longstanding client Legal & General on this transaction to secure the benefits of retired and deferred members of British Steel’s Pension Scheme. The parties approached the transaction with a solution-based mentality and the partnership that developed between the parties and their advisers over the course of the buy-ins greatly assisted in reaching a successful outcome. We congratulate all those involved in what is a significant transaction for both parties, and for the UK pension de-risking market.”
The CMS team was led by Thomas Lockley and Dan Meatyard (Financial Services) and Mark Jenkins and Caroline Kurup (Pensions), and comprised firm-wide support from Adrian Wright, Jonathan Groom, Jack Brigden, Claire Hartley, James Geer, Owen Ross, Blaine Cartin, Maria Rodia, Amanda Chamming’s, Gerrard Cole, Elaine He, Rachel Arnott and Ellie Spare.
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