Pensions insurer Rothesay Life has completed a £170m full buyout with Toshiba to insure its defined benefit pension liabilities.

The transaction covers around 1,350 former Toshiba UK employees based in Plymouth and Guildford in the Toshiba Pensions and Assurance Scheme. The benefits covered in the deal are mostly for deferred members who have not yet retired.

The single premium bulk annuity agreement looks to provide the firm with certainty over its pension liabilities. With this, the scheme is due to proceed to the completion of its wind-up.

The trustee of the Toshiba scheme was advised by PwC to choose an appropriate insurer. Rothesay Life was advised by Gowling WLG in negotiating the terms of the deal.

Rothesay Life co-head of business development Guy Freeman said: “We are delighted that Rothesay Life is insuring the pension benefits for Toshiba. The advantages of having a sole trustee in place to secure a bulk annuity were very apparent. Working directly with 20-20 Trustees made this execution process highly efficient.

“With a large proportion of deferred members this is another illustration of Rothesay Life’s strength in securing long-dated liabilities. Corporate appetite to remove pension risk continues to grow and our de-risking pipeline is bigger than ever.”

20-20 Trustees CEO of the sole trustee Antony Miller, added: “We are pleased to announce this transaction which secures the long-term benefits for the Toshiba scheme members. This positive outcome was implemented within a short time-frame thanks to Rothesay Life’s expertise, excellent execution and collaboration with our advisers and to Toshiba, who supported this outcome throughout the process.”

Earlier this year, Prudential announced that it was transferring a record £13bn of its annuity portfolio to Rothesay Life.

Commenting on the progress of the buy-ins and buyouts in 2018, LCP partner Charlie Finch said: “2018 has got off to a busy start with significant annuity back-books taken on by Rothesay Life and Phoenix Life. Insurers are reporting that they are busier than ever, with a number of £1bn plus transactions set to close over the coming months. We continue to anticipate record buy-in and buy-out volumes in 2018 of over £15bn. Combined with future back-book transactions this could lead to significant capacity crunches at times during the year.”

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