Publisher Archant’s pension scheme on the road to PPF assessment

Newspaper publisher, Archant, will enter its pension scheme into Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment if its company voluntary arrangement (CVA) is approved as part of a deal with Rcapital.

Initially reported by Sky News, Archant, which publishes The New European and the Eastern Daily Press, will enter an administration process overseen by KPMG upon completion of the deal.

Once this begins, Archant’s pension and life assurance scheme will enter a PPF assessment period.

As part of the deal, the pensions lifeboat would hold a minority shareholding in the publisher’s operations, which would enable the PPF to benefit from any future recovery.

A source told Sky News that Archant’s pension trustees would write to scheme members soon with details of the proposals, which reportedly have the backing of The Pensions Regulator.

Sky News’ source added: "The pressure on the company has been compounded by the significant deficit in the pension scheme and the longer-term funding requirements necessary to meet the scheme contributions.”

A PPF spokesperson commented: “We are unable to comment on trading companies however we can confirm we are currently in discussions with the company and are yet to receive any formal CVA proposals.”

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