Scottish Milk Ltd. Retirement Benefits Plan, Aspatria, England, completed a £42 million ($54 million) buy-in with U.K. firm Just Group, securing benefits for all participants in the corporate pension fund, according to a news release.
The sponsoring company, First Milk, is a British farmer-owned dairy cooperative based in Glasgow, Scotland. First Milk has about 700 member farms and around 220 employees.
The transaction was completed in June and secures the benefits of all 452 participants, of which 292 are retired and a further 160 are deferred participants. PricewaterhouseCoopers was the lead pension risk transfer adviser on the transaction, while Ernst & Young provided covenant advice to the trustees at Just Group. Legal advice was provided to the trustees by Burness Paull, to First Milk from Brodies, and to Just Group by Pinsent Masons.
“The transaction marks a key step in the trustees’ journey to enhance the security of member benefits, and the trustees are extremely grateful for the ongoing engagement and support from the sponsor to enable this positive transaction to be executed,” said Zahir Fazal, chair of the trustees at Scottish Milk, in the news release.
