Rolls-Royce has completed a £1.1bn pension buyout with Legal and General for the Vickers Group Pension Scheme, which is part of the Rolls-Royce Group.

The deal, which covers 11,000 members, is the largest pension risk transfer transaction in 2016. The Vickers Group Pension Scheme has now achieved its goal of a full buyout.
Rolls Royce head of pensions Joel Griffin said the deal is a “great testimony” to the work of the trustees, the advisers and the company who have worked “collaboratively over many years to ensure that this scheme is well funded with a prudent investment strategy”.

Legal and General worked with the scheme’s advisers at mercer to complete the transaction. Commenting, L&G head of core pension risk transfer Phil Beach said: “We are delighted that the Vickers trustees chose to work with Legal & General and ultimately secured their members’ benefits with us.

“We were pleased to work with Rolls-Royce, the Vickers scheme and their advisers on what proved to be a very smooth transition. The relationship with L&G Investment Management as investment manager enabled us to be innovative in offering certainty to the scheme during the transition period and this proved to be beneficial to everyone against the backdrop of volatile markets.”

In addition, L&G Retirement managing director Kerrigan Procter said: “We look forward to welcoming the 11,000 members of the Vickers Group Pension Scheme to Legal & General. We are pleased to have worked closely with the scheme trustees, their advisers Mercer, and Rolls-Royce Group to achieve a full buyout.

“Our relationship with the trustees has been a long-standing one, starting in 2007 with an LDI mandate to de-risk the scheme and now culminating in a full buyout. We are grateful for being able to play a part as the trustees, with patient and careful management, steered their way through the financial crisis, recession, the consequences of QE and latterly the outcome of the EU referendum before reaching the point where buyout was appropriate and achievable for all scheme members.”

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