Ofcom, London, agreed to the final pension buy-in with Legal & General in a series of deals over the past six years to cover all £250 million ($398.7 million) of pension liabilities across its two pension plans, said Rodney Jagelman, independent chair of the Ofcom trustee board and director at Law Debenture.
The final deal covered £50 million in liabilities and around 350 plan members for the London-based firm and its Ofcom (former ITC) Staff Pension Plan Ofcom is the regulator for the U.K. communications industries. Of the five total buy-ins, one related to the regulator's Defined Benefit Pension Plan and the remaining four to the Staff Pension Plan. Legal & General also participated in the four earlier deals.
“Ofcom proactively manages its pension liabilities and we approached the trustees earlier this year to propose further derisking,” said Alastair Smith, finance director at Ofcom, in a news release by L&G. “This latest buy-in has enabled Ofcom to insure all if its pension liabilities in the Ofcom Plan.”
Towers Watson advised Ofcom. Legal advice was provided to the trustees by Mayer Brown and to Ofcom by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. LCP provided actuarial advice to the trustee.
