Rolls-Royce Buyout: Legal & General completes largest pension buyout of 2016 with £1.1 billion Vickers Group Pension Scheme
Legal & General Group Plc ("Legal & General") today announced it has completed a £1.1 billion pension buyout for the Vickers Group Pension Scheme, part of the Rolls-Royce Group, covering over 11,000 members.
Legal & General Retirement sales year to date are £6.7 billion, with £6.3 billion in annuities and £0.4 billion in lifetime mortgages. The decrease in the Group's Solvency II surplus from new business regulatory capital strain is expected to be less than £200m (circa 3% of premiums) for business year to date.
Kerrigan Procter, Managing Director of Legal & General Retirement, said:
"We look forward to welcoming the 11,000 members of the Vickers Group Pension Scheme to Legal & General. We are pleased to have worked closely with the Scheme Trustees, their advisers Mercer, and the Rolls-Royce Group to achieve a full buyout. Our relationship with the Trustees has been a long-standing one, starting in 2007 with an LDI mandate to de-risk the Scheme and now culminating in a full buyout. We are grateful for being able to play a part as the Trustees, with patient and careful management, steered their way through the financial crisis, recession, the consequences of QE and latterly the outcome of the EU referendum before reaching the point where buyout was appropriate and achievable for all Scheme members."
Joel Griffin, Head of Pensions at Rolls-Royce said:
"This is a great testimony to the work of the Trustees and the Company working collaboratively over many years to ensure that this scheme is well funded with a prudent investment strategy to enable this excellent outcome for former Vickers employees."
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For further information, please contact:
Investors:
Laura Doyle Head of Investor Relations 020 3124 2088
Sujee Rajah Investor Relations Manager 020 3124 2047
Media:
Richard King Head of Group Corporate Communications 020 3124 2095
Notes to editors:
Legal & General Group Plc:
1. Bulk annuities sales at H1 2016 were £3.6 billion. In May, we acquired a £2.9 billion annuity back book from Aegon. Following Brexit, we announced in July a £750 million pension risk transfer deal with ICI, and by September sales were at £4.8 billion. On the completion of the Vickers Group Pension scheme, sales year to date for pension risk transfer are at £6 billion.
2. Lifetime mortgage sales at H1 2016 were £231 million. In July we signed a 5 year distribution agreement with Santander, and by September sales were at £361 million. Year to date lifetime mortgage sales are at £443 million.
3. Individual annuities sales at H1 2016 were £158 million. In July we announced a 5 year distribution with Aegon. At September sales were at £248 million, and year to date sales are at £300 million.
4. Established in 1836, Legal & General is a leading provider of insurance, savings and investment management products in the UK. The Group has a market capitalisation of £13.8bn (as at 11th November 2016) and is responsible for investing £841.5bn worldwide (as at 30 June 2016) on behalf of investors, policyholders and shareholders.
5. Legal & General has over seven million customers in the UK for life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans and over one million customers in the US who rely on us for life assurance.
6. In 2015, Legal & General's operating profit (IFRS basis) was £1,455m and adjusted earnings per share were 18.58p for the period, an increase of 14% and 11% respectively. For H1 2016 Legal & General's profit before tax was £826m, an increase of 23%, adjusted earnings per share were 11.20p for the period, an increase of 14%, and net cash of £727m, an increase of 16%.
For more information on Legal & General, please see http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/
Forward-looking statements
This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to Legal & General, its plans and its current goals and expectations relating to future financial condition, performance and results. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances which are beyond Legal & General's control, including, among others, UK domestic and global economic and business conditions, market related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of regulatory and Governmental authorities, the impact of competition, the timing impact of these events and other uncertainties of future acquisition or combinations within relevant industries. As a result, Legal & General's actual future condition, performance and results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements and persons reading this announcement should not place reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made only as at the date on which such statements are made and Legal & General Group Plc does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained in this announcement or any other forward-looking statement it may make.
