Sackers advises on £4.8bn buy-in for Boots Pension Scheme

The trustees of the Boots Pension Scheme have concluded a buy-in with Legal & General, insuring in total £4.8bn of liabilities and covering the pensions of all 53,000 retirees and deferred members of the scheme. Sackers are longstanding advisers to the trustees and advised throughout the transaction.

This is the largest single transaction by premium size and represents the largest transaction in terms of the number of members. It is also the largest ever single pensions risk transfer written by L&G, and includes complex asset transition and deferred premium features.

Alan Baker, chair of trustees, said: “This agreement with L&G gives added protection to our members’ long-term benefits by removing market uncertainty and other financial exposures.”

Fuat Sami, client partner for the Boots Pension Scheme, said: “We are delighted to have been able to combine our in-depth knowledge of the Scheme with our wider risk transfer, investment and finance expertise to help bring this transaction to a successful conclusion. Working closely with the trustees and other advisers, we were able to draw on our experience to find innovative solutions to complex issues in a very compressed timeframe.”

The Sackers team comprised partners Fuat Sami, Ralph McClelland, Tom Jackman, Vicky Carr, and Ian Cormican, with additional support from senior counsel Nigel Cayless, and senior associates Liam Goulding and Bethan Rowlands.