Gowling WLG's Pensions team has advised the Legal & General UK Pension and Assurance Fund on an Assured Payment Policy (the APP) with Legal and General Assurance Society (LGAS). The transaction is valued at £925 million.
The transaction, which is the largest APP transaction completed to date, will secure the cashflows to support benefit payments payable to approximately 2,000 retired and 2,800 deferred members of the pension fund.
The Gowling WLG legal advisory team was led by Partner, Jason Coates, and comprised Maddy Frost (Legal Director, Pensions), Frances Binns (Associate, Pensions), Ian Mason (Partner, Financial Services Regulatory), and Lee Nuttall (Partner, Tax).
Jason Coates, Head of Pensions at Gowling WLG, said: "We are pleased to have once again provided support to the Trustee in executing this deal to secure member benefits."
Chris Martin, ITS, Chair of the Trustee, added: "The APP is a very significant event in the Fund's lifetime as we move closer to securing our members' benefits. This is a unique product that removes a large proportion of the investment risk from the Fund. We are very grateful to our advisers, including Gowling WLG, for their guidance and support through this transaction."
The Trustee's advisory team also included LCP and Redington.
The Gowling WLG Pensions team has a market-leading Pensions Risk Transfer practice that has advised on many of the industry's significant buy-in and buy-out deals over the last few years, plus on the recent £3.7billion longevity swap for the ICL Group Pension Plan of Fujitsu Services Limited and, in December 2020, the Trustee of the Legal & General Group UK Senior Scheme on an Assured Payment Policy (the APP) with Legal and General Assurance Society (LGAS) which was valued at almost £400 million.