Sackers advises on £1.8bn buy-in for United Utilities pension schemes

The Trustees of two pension schemes sponsored by United Utilities, the United Utilities Pension Scheme and the United Utilities PLC Group of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme, have completed a £1.8bn buy-in with Legal & General. Sackers advised the Trustees.

Gary Dixon, chair of trustees, said: “We’re delighted to have completed this buy-in transaction across our two pension schemes, providing security for all our members and taking a further step on our derisking journey. We are hugely grateful to the team at Sackers for their hard work and clear advice and for the wider support they provided throughout the process. As longstanding advisers, their in-depth knowledge of the schemes combined with their risk transfer expertise has been invaluable and the collaborative way they worked with us, the company and all the other advisers really helped to ensure the successful outcome.”

Partner Eleanor Daplyn led the Sackers team comprising Ian Cormican, Joanna Smith, Sam Taylor, Leanne Carter and Sonya Fraser. Eleanor said: “We are proud to have been able to combine our knowledge of the schemes with our wider risk transfer expertise to help bring this transaction to a successful conclusion. Working closely with the schemes’ other advisers, we were able to meet the trustees’ objectives and insure the majority of liabilities for both schemes.”