Legal & General agrees £4.8 billion full buy-in for the Boots Pension Scheme
- Secures the benefits of all 53,000 retirees and deferred members of the Scheme, making it the UK’s largest single transaction of its kind by premium size and, for L&G, the largest single transaction by number of members.
- Builds on a long-standing relationship with Boots. Legal & General has provided investment management services to the Scheme for over 20 years.
- Legal & General has written £13.4 billion of global Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) business year to date.
UK’s largest single buy-in by premium size
Legal & General Group plc (“Legal & General”) today announces that it has agreed a £4.8 billion full buy-in with the Boots Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”). This buy-in secures the benefits of all 53,000 retirees and deferred members of the Scheme, making it the UK’s largest single transaction of its kind by premium size and, for L&G, the largest single transaction by number of members.
The sponsoring company, Boots (“the Sponsor”), founded 174 years ago, is the UK’s leading health and beauty business with over 2,000 stores and 52,000 employees.
Legal & General has a long-standing relationship with Boots, having provided investment management services to the Scheme for over 20 years. This buy-in begins the conclusion of a de-risking process that the scheme first embarked on in 2001.
This transaction represents another innovative step forward in DB pension de-risking by providing a combined investment and insurance solution for the Scheme’s asset holdings, allowing the Scheme to achieve the certainty of a transaction whilst also maximising value by transferring its assets (or the associated sale proceeds) to Legal & General.
Legal & General worked in close partnership with the Sponsor and Trustee to manage this transaction which incorporated both asset transition and deferred premiums features.
This bulk annuity is Legal & General’s largest ever single PRT transaction.
Cardano was the strategic advisor to Walgreens Boots Alliance and lead broker for the transaction, while Baker McKenzie provided legal advice. Aon was strategic adviser, lead investment adviser and broker for the transaction representing the Trustee, while Sackers provided legal advice. Slaughter and May and Simmons & Simmons provided legal advice to Legal & General.