Elementis seals £300m pension buy-in
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The trustees of the Elementis Group Pension Scheme, for the specialty chemicals company, completed a buy-in covering 4,500 scheme members in May this year.
The deal with Aviva allows a subset of members to access additional voluntary contributions as a primary source of tax-free cash through the insurer’s integrated DB&C master trust solution.
The transaction included a price lock, which meant the trustees could sell credit fund holdings and transition into the premium payment portfolio. This was to help minimise mismatch risk and support pricing certainty throughout the process, according to Aviva.
“This deal would not have been possible without the full support of our sponsor, Elementis plc, which was and remains strongly collaborative throughout this process,” said trustee chair Brian Taylorson.
Scheme secretary Wai Wong added: “Even with extensive planning and preparation, we had to overcome a number of challenges in our journey, but our risk transfer advisory team at Aon were excellent and methodically guided the trustees through every step in the process, supported by all of the scheme's key advisers and Aptia as scheme administrator.”
Wong added: “Our focus now turns to the data validation phase and a comprehensive plan and strong project management will ensure we deliver for all our stakeholders.”
Sean Rooney, senior BPA deal manager at Aviva, explained that as part of the transaction, the trustee has the option to draw on Aviva and its specialist partners to support completion of their data cleansing and verification activities.
“This provides certainty to the scheme and its sponsor that, regardless of any scheme administration constraints, they can always rely on Aviva to ensure their preferred timescales for data cleanse are met, providing greater flexibility over the timing of any potential future buyout,” Rooney said.
While Aon was the lead adviser to the trustee, Squire Patton Boggs provided legal advice.
