International law firm CMS has advised the Trustee of the Sanofi Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”) on a £760 million buy-in transaction with Legal & General Assurance Society Limited (“Legal & General”).
This transaction represents the Scheme’s first Pension Risk Transfer transaction with Legal & General, after being a long-term asset management client.
Maria Rodia, Partner at CMS, who led the transaction, comments: “We were delighted to support the Sanofi Trustee on this buy-in transaction with Legal & General. It was a genuinely collaborative process working very closely with all parties to help the Trustee achieve its objective of reducing risk and securing members’ benefits – a great result all round.”
The CMS team also included Amanda Chamming’s, Thomas Bates, Tasmin Patel and Ellie Spare.
Lisa Shufflebottom, Trustee Secretary comments: “The Trustee, with support from Sanofi, is very pleased to have secured a buy-in transaction with Legal & General. This buy-in is an important step in our long-term strategy and significantly reduces risk in the Scheme, thereby providing greater certainty about the future costs of providing members’ pensions.”
With this transaction, CMS reinforces its market-leading position in the de-risking arena. In 2020 alone, CMS advised on over £18bn worth of buy-in and buy-out transactions – representing more than half of the total value of all transactions completed last year. The firm has now advised on six out of the eight longevity swap conversions that have taken place to date, including both conversions undertaken in 2020, as well as many of the large-scale longevity swaps in the market including advising Pacific Life Re on the £10bn transaction with the Lloyds Banking Group pension scheme, the second largest longevity swap ever completed.
CMS has also been recognised as Pensions Lawyers of the Year at the Pensions Age Awards 2021, Law Firm of the Year at the UK Pension and Investment Provider Awards 2020 and Pensions Lawyers of the Year at the Professional Pensions UK Pensions Awards 2020. It was also named the top firm for Supporting Development at the Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards 2020, where the firm was commended for its well-rounded approach to the professional development of its lawyers.
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