Gallagher has today announced the completion of a £25m buy-in for the Moog Retirement Benefits Plan, in partnership with insurer Just Group (‘Just’), a FTSE-listed specialist UK financial services company. The buy-in transaction covers the remaining 28 deferred members and 139 current pensioner members.
For the past three years, Gallagher has worked with the Plan’s Trustees to monitor the affordability of a potential buy-in. In 2022, Gallagher was appointed as risk transfer brokers for the transaction, and subsequently established a Joint Working Group between the Trustees and the Sponsor to manage the buy-in.
Throughout this time, the Trustees undertook a series of tasks to thoroughly prepare the scheme for a buy-in transaction with Gallagher’s support. Following a careful monitoring period, the buy-in timeline accelerated in May 2024. Gallagher’s risk transfer team notified the Trustees of a pricing opportunity. With favourable pricing secured that fell well within agreed tolerances, the Trustees were able to move quickly and soon positioned the scheme for a successful transaction.
In June 2024, the Trustees signed the contract and entered into the final £25m buy-in policy agreement.
Due to careful preparation, the Trustees were well ahead of the market and had fully implemented GMP equalisation ahead of the buy-in transaction through Gallagher’s GMP solution. As a direct result, the Trustees could approach the market sooner and will benefit from more certainty on the results of the true-up period, which will begin shortly.
Open Trustees acted as the Plan's independent trustee. Osborne Clarke acted as legal advisers.
Mark van den Berghen, Head of Risk Transfer at Gallagher, said:
“We are delighted to have worked with the Plan’s Trustees in collaborating to achieve a favourable outcome for the scheme members. All parties were committed to values of open communication, innovation, and flexibility which meant we were able to move at pace to conclude the transaction at such a busy time of year.”
Jonathan Hazlett, Managing Director at Open Trustees, said:
"We've worked very closely in recent years with our fellow trustees, Moog Controls Limited and Gallagher to get the Plan "buy-out ready". We're really pleased to have secured Plan members' benefits in full with Just Group at a competitive price in a busy market in short timescales. This transaction is evidence of the great value associated with working collaboratively with your sponsor, advisers and an insurer on an exclusive basis to secure members' pensions for the future".
Alma Goyanes-Payne, Deal Manager at Just Group, said:
“We are proud to have secured the benefits for the Plan’s members in a transaction that was enabled by our highly successful bulk quotation and monitoring service, Beacon. The completion of another buy-in reflects our continuing relationship with Gallagher and shows that a collaborative approach can deliver deals for schemes of all sizes in a busy and buoyant market.”
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