Rothesay Life PLC completed a deal to insure £3.8 billion of defined benefit liabilities for the Allied Domecq Pension Fund, describing the transaction as the largest scheme buy-in that incorporates deferred members and current pensioners.
The insurance policy covers more than 27,000 members, consisting of 17,000 pensioners and 10,000 deferred pensioners. The fund will continue to hold some residual assets to support ongoing running costs, as well as the payment of any pension benefits not covered by the policy.
The fund was advised by Hymans Robertson and DLA Piper, while Rothesay Life was advised by Linklaters.
Rothesay Life said its assets now exceed £50 billion, more than doubling from £24 billion at year-end 2017.
In anticipation of the transaction and "further significant opportunities" in the defined benefit bulk annuity market, Rothesay Life said its shareholders have contributed another £200 million of new equity in addition to the £500 million announced earlier in September, to take the total new equity provided in 2019 to £700 million.
Rothesay Life announced Sept. 26 that it signed what it says will be the "largest full scheme buyout ever undertaken in the U.K.," agreeing with telecom company telent to a bulk annuity insurance buyout of the £4.7 billion GEC 1972 Plan.
Allied Domecq was a manufacturer of wines and spirits that was acquired by Pernod Ricard SA in 2005. Pernod Ricard sold certain brands of Allied Domecq to Fortune Brands and Diageo, and also sold Allied Domecq's Dunkin' Brands restaurant business to a private equity consortium.
