Multinational glass manufacturing firm Pilkington Group Ltd has secured a £230 million insurance buy-in with the Pensions Insurance Corporation for its pension scheme.
This will be PICâs 13th transaction with the Pilkington Superannuation Scheme, which is sponsored by Japanese firm Nippon Street Glass Co Ltd as it is a subsidiary of the company.
Aon Hewitt was the lead advisor to the trustee during the transaction, while Keith Greenfield, Chairman of the trustee company, spoke of his delight at being able to insure a proportion of their pensioner liabilities through the deal.
Greenfield continued: We had to move quickly to secure the buy-in in the light of current volatile markets.
The PIC team were flexible and innovative in helping us complete this transaction and I want to thank both them and our advisers, Aon Hewitt, Hogan Lovells and Willis Towers Watson.
Meanwhile, Uzma Nazir, PIC actuary, said that the trustee has been proactive in risk management in the pension scheme for several years and they are proud to have helped it to complete this major step.
Nazir added: There has been a tangible increase in interest from trustees in buy-ins since the Brexit referendum and we have completed a number of transactions over the past few weeks and expect more to follow.
He also said that the scheme has benefitted from the rise in the value of gilts and exchanged them for a buy-in policy.
John Baines, Aon Hewitt Risk Settlement Group partner, said that they were able to ensure a positive and predictable outcome for the project and capitalise on the attractive pricing which is currently available in the bulk annuity market, which is driven by market conditions in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Pilkington was founded in St Helens in 1826 and is a fully owned subsidiary of the Japan based NSG Group.
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