The Pension SuperFund has agreed a deal with an unnamed company to consolidate and take on £300m of closed defined benefit pension liabilities.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, would be the second agreed by the Pension SuperFund, the first of which was submitted to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) for approval in May 2019.

The latest deal is for the UK pension scheme of a foreign-owned private company with £170m of assets and £250m of liabilities.

It has a self-sufficiency valuation of around £300m and the sponsoring employer will add to the asset base with money acquired from property sales and debt before moving the liabilities to the Pension SuperFund.

Commenting on the announcement, Pension SuperFund CEO, Luke Webster, said: “The Pension SuperFund is pleased to announce that we have signed the exclusivity agreement on our second deal.

“Having submitted our first transaction to TPR for clearance earlier this year, it is excellent to see the faith, which trustees increasingly have in our particular model of defined benefit pension consolidation.

“The £300m deal will be a very fitting first addition to the SuperFund and represents a very significant increase in funding for the members concerned.”

Although it can legally operate, the Pension SuperFund is currently waiting for legislation to be put in place to regulate DB consolidators specifically.

However, it was recently announced that DB consolidation would not be part of the proposed Pensions Bill, although when the bill will be put before Parliament is still unclear.

TPR said that it hopes to have completed its assessment of the emerging superfunds, the Pension SuperFund and Clara Pensions, “by the end of the year”.

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