Legal & General has completed a £1.1 billion buy-in with Deutsche Bank’s UK DB Pension Scheme, securing benefits for 4,000 members.
This is the Scheme’s third buy-in with Legal & General, reaching a total of £2.1 billion in covered liabilities, following £570 million and £500 million deals in 2021 and 2023, respectively,
The umbrella agreement-backed phased buy-in approach permits the Scheme to fully insure existing benefits while permitting active members to accrue additional service.
LCP gave legal advice to the Trustee of the Scheme, while CMS gave legal advice to the Trustee and DLA Piper represented Legal & General.
Legal & General CEO Andrew Kail says: “As a long-standing client of both our Institutional Retirement and Asset Management division, we are pleased to mark the completion of the DB (UK) Pension Scheme’s de-risking journey, securing its remaining members’ benefits.
“Our robust capabilities in Pension Risk Transfer and Asset Management are central to the Group’s new growth strategy, and this latest transaction is a further demonstration of how our synergistic business model can benefit clients, customers, and shareholders.”
DB (UK) Pension Scheme chair of the trustee board Michael Wrobel says: “We are delighted to have completed this full buy-in of the Scheme’s liabilities with Legal & General to further improve the security of members’ benefits. The Scheme has reached its long-term target significantly ahead of the plan we set in 2018. The existing relationship with Legal & General has been fundamental in helping us achieve this and allowed us to move quickly to lock in attractive pricing for this and previous transactions.”
Deutsche Bank AG head of global pension and benefits Jeremy Sowden says: “This latest transaction means that all accrued benefits across our two UK Schemes have now been insured removing over £3bn of pension risk. This is an excellent result for the members, the Trustee and the Bank. Our collaborative working relationship with the Trustee and its advisers has been key to the successful and efficient implementation of the plan. The Bank and Trustee took the opportunity presented by market conditions to fully insure accrued liabilities much earlier than previously planned and the resulting successful transaction represents an important milestone in our global strategy to manage defined benefit scheme risk.”
LCP partner Charlie Finch says: “This is a textbook example of a successful phased buy-in strategy. It has been a privilege to support the Trustee and Deutsche Bank on the journey to reach full insurance across four buy-ins and materially ahead of plan. We have worked with the Scheme since 2018 to design the strategy and produce a roadmap that met all parties’ objectives. The preparation work and strong insurer relationships have been fundamental in allowing the Scheme to execute buy-ins at highly attractive pricing and move quickly to complete a complex final transaction.”