Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, has concluded a £150m full buy-in of the Sappi UK Pension Scheme.

The deal, which covers 1,300 members, has "enabled the trustee and company to significantly reduce the risks associated with its pension scheme liabilities by securing full benefits for Sappi’s members", Standard Life stated.

PwC acted as the lead advisers for the transaction, with legal advice provided by Squire Patton Boggs, and administration and project support from Deloitte.

Commenting on the buy-in, PAN Trustees UK's Mike Roberts, acting trustee of the scheme, said: “It is a great result to be able to secure member benefits with Standard Life, which marks an important milestone in the scheme’s journey plan."

PwC lead transaction adviser, Jani Singh, added: “To be able to execute the full scheme buy-in transaction in the current uncertain market conditions is a positive outcome...To achieve this, we took a solutions-focused approach, which included efficiently disposing the scheme’s illiquid assets. As schemes reach their end game destination quicker than they anticipate, we expect features such as illiquid assets and capturing market volatility to become more common.”

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