Sound Retirement Trust completes first-ever multiemployer pension buyout deal

Sound Retirement Trust, Seattle, purchased a group annuity contract from Prudential Insurance Co. of America to transfer about $221 million in pension plan liabilities.

It is the first pension buyout transaction in the U.S. by a multiemployer pension plan, according to an Aug. 28 news release from Prudential.

The contract will transfer the liabilities of 8,700 United Food & Commercial Workers retirees. Prudential will take on the responsibility of paying benefits to the retirees effective Sept. 1, according to the news release.

The buyout transaction completes more than a year of due diligence and deliberation, said Faye Guenther, union trustee and president of UFCW Local 3000, in the news release.

"Prudential was selected because of its historic track record as one of the safest annuity providers to guarantee pension benefit payments in the United States,” Guenther said.

As of Dec. 31, 2022, the Sound Retirement Trust had $2.4 billion in assets, according to its most recent Form 5500 filing.