Deutsche Bank has completed a £1.1 billion full buy-in for its UK pension scheme.
The scheme is sponsored by a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank and is a client of Legal and General’s asset management division. The buy-in secures the benefits of around 4,000 members.
LCP was lead transaction adviser to the trustee of the scheme, while transaction legal advice was provided to the trustee by CMS. DLA Piper UK provided legal advice to Legal and General.
This is the scheme’s third buy-in with Legal and General following a £570 million buy-in in 2021 and a £500 million buy-in in 2023, bringing the total of insured liabilities to £2.1 billion. It benefitted from a previous umbrella agreement with the provider and has over the past four years implemented a phased buy-in strategy to fully insure all accrued benefits, while accommodating new benefits for its 250 active employee members.
Jeremy Sowden, head of global pension and benefits at Deutsche Bank, said: “This latest transaction means that all accrued benefits across our two UK schemes have now been insured, removing £3 billion of pension risk. Our collaborative working relationship with the trustee and its advisers has been key to the plan implementation. 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 scheme risk.”
Michael Wrobel, chair of the trustee board, DB (UK) Pension Scheme, added: “The existing relationship with Legal and 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.”
Charlie Finch, partner at LCP, said: “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.”
