John Townsend Trust Pension and Assurance Scheme insured £30 million ($41 million) in liabilities through a full buy-in with Legal & General Assurance Society, according to its trustee's website.
The buy-in, which will become a buyout next year, secures the liabilities of about 280 plan participants.
The plan entered the London-based £36 billion Pension Protection Fund's assessment in 2015 when its sponsor, John Townsend Trust — a U.K.-based charity for deaf children — became insolvent.
Having sold the charity's buildings to Kent County Council, the plan's trustees, Open Trustees, were able to secure retirement outcomes for its plan participants above PPF levels of compensation though the buy-in. The PPF is a lifeboat fund for the defined benefit plans of insolvent U.K. companies.
Open Trustees was advised by U.K. consultant Barnett Waddingham and law firm Gowling WLG.
"It has been a long process getting to this point as we negotiated all of the difficulties associated with the charity's insolvency and, in particular, realizing our interest in the school buildings," said Jonathan Hazlett, managing director of Open Trustees, in a news release Tuesday. "Whilst the PPF provides a valuable safety net and a significant level of protection, many members will now receive higher benefits than they might otherwise have expected had the scheme entered the PPF."
