BW advises on £21m full buy-in with Legal & General

The trustees of the Kesslers Group Pension Plan have completed a transaction with Legal & General to purchase a bulk annuity contract for the entire Plan.

The buy-in transaction, signed in June 2022, secures the benefits for 241 deferred and pensioner members of the Plan.

The company decided to fund the plan to allow an annuity purchase and advisors worked closely together and with Legal & General to ensure the transaction completed quickly.

BW provided investment advice to the trustees while buyout broking, actuarial and administration were provided by Broadstone advised on buy-out broking, actuarial and administration by Broadstone, who worked closely with legal advisors Shoosmiths and investment consultants Barnett Waddingham. The company was also advised by Barnett Waddingham.

Nigel Jones, Director of Consultancy and Actuarial at Broadstone, said; “As many schemes note an improving buy-out funding position and are preparing for the market through our SM&RT insure process, it is particularly pleasing that we achieved an excellent result for a scheme that had unexpectedly been able to approach the insurance market at short notice.

We recognised how important speed of transaction was to the trustees and company and to achieve this, pragmatism and close working with all parties was required.”

Charles Kessler, the Kessler Group Chairman and Trustee, said; “Our staff- past, present, and future- have been key to our success, as a family business. The opportunity for us to secure the Plan’s benefits with an insurer is a great step forward, and we are delighted to have completed this deal with Legal & General. We have been particularly impressed with the speed of agreement for the annuity contract, which was achieved in under 3 months. This is a testament to Broadstone working closely with Legal & General and our other advisors to focus on transacting as smoothly as possible.”

Beatrice Male, Client Solutions Director at Legal & General said; “We are delighted to have agreed this transaction with the Trustees, as a result of our close and efficient collaboration. At Legal & General, our wide range of experience and ever-growing expertise in providing client-focused solutions, means we can help pension schemes throughout their de-risking journey more efficiently than ever before. We look forward to building on our partnership with the Trustees, while providing further security to the pension scheme members.”