Asda Group Pension Scheme insured £3.8 billion ($4.8 billion) in defined benefit liabilities through a buy-in with Rothesay Life.
Asda Group Pension Scheme, Leeds, England, insured £3.8 billion ($4.8 billion) in defined benefit liabilities through a buy-in with Rothesay Life, the U.K. supermarket chain said on its website Friday.
In the website news release, Asda Stores Ltd. announced it secured the long-term benefits for about 12,300 participants. A full buyout of the plan will follow by early 2021.
The full buyout — which will remove all liabilities from the balance sheets of Asda and its parent company, Walmart Inc.— will be funded by a final pension contribution of £800 million, Asda said.
"This transaction is an excellent outcome for our scheme members — and for Asda and Walmart. We have supported the scheme over many decades through significant cash contributions," Asda CEO Roger Burnley said in the release. "That funding, combined with strong stewardship by the scheme's trustees, has resulted in the very positive situation where the scheme can now be transferred to an insurance company."
Lincoln Pensions Ltd. and Aon PLC provided advice on the deal.
