The Retreat York Pension Scheme has agreed a £30m full scheme buy-in with Royal London, securing the benefits of 202 pensioners and 108 deferred members.

The transaction was the first external deal for Royal London, which announced that it had entered the bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market earlier this week (30 September).

K3 led on the transaction, while Vidett Trustees operated as sole independent trustee, represented by Vidett client director, Duncan Willsher.

The trustees were also advised by First Actuarial and Wrigleys Solicitors, while The Retreat York was advised by Spence & Partners.

Willsher highlighted the deal as demonstration of the importance of selecting the right teams and partners when approaching the market, acknowleding that "the bulk annuity market is very busy as more and more schemes look to remove risk from the company balance sheets and secure member benefits".

“Although becoming increasingly popular thanks to improvements in funding, it doesn’t mean it’s easy for schemes, particularly small ones," he continued.

"The process can be complex if you aren’t working with the right people. Working closely with the sponsor, our advisors and Royal London, we were able to be decisive when inevitable challenges arose and ready to act swiftly.

“In this case, all parties were able to achieve that success by working collaboratively and efficiently together to support the scheme to meet its buy-in objectives.”

Adding to this, K3 Advisory managing director, Adam Davis, said: “We are exceptionally proud to have worked with Royal London to transact their first external deal in the bulk annuity market.

“As is the case with many deals of this size, the smooth and successful transaction came down to preparation and the ability to move quickly.

“Affordability was an issue for the scheme and working with Royal London we were able to confidently secure attractive pricing after a short period of monitoring to enable a transaction at a level affordable to the scheme.

“We work hard to ensure that any transaction we undertake meets the schemes specific objectives and remains totally aligned with their unique needs.”

Royal London BPA origination lead, Baljit Khatra, stated: “It was a pleasure to work with K3 and Vidett to complete our first external bulk annuity transaction, with all parties working together with real purpose to deliver a fantastic outcome for the pension scheme members.

“As the only mutual operating in the bulk annuity market, we offer trustees a genuine alternative, and we’re delighted to welcome the members of The Retreat York Pension Scheme to Royal London as we support them in the future.”

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