Marks & Spencer Pension Scheme, London, insured £750 million ($971 million) in liabilities through two buy-in deals with Aviva and Phoenix Life, according to regulatory filing published Wednesday.
The split of the buy-in deals was not disclosed.
The deals follow £1.4 billion and £900 million risk transfer transactions completed by the £11 billion plan in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The plan has now insured about 80% of retiree liabilities.
Hymans Robertson advised Marks & Spencer on the deals.
"With the support of Hymans Robertson we have successfully completed our third set of buy-in transactions, helping us to continue reducing exposure to external factors and further increase the protection of our scheme members' benefits," Daniel Brook, group treasurer at Marks & Spencer, said in a news release.
Graham Oakley, chairman of the Marks & Spencer Pension Trust, added in the release: "We're pleased to announce the purchase of these additional buy-in policies, providing another important contribution to our ongoing objective of reducing risk in the scheme to increase the security of all members' pensions. The collaborative approach and our existing relationships have allowed us to act quickly and complete further well-priced transactions."
