LONDON (Reuters) – British insurer Aviva has completed a 1.5 billion pound ($1.96 billion) bulk annuity buy-in deal with Michelin Pension and Life Assurance Plan, adviser XPS said on Wednesday.
The deal is Aviva’s largest bulk annuity transaction to date and the biggest announced in the British market this year, the companies said in a statement.
Bulk annuity deals – in which a company transfers its defined benefit, or final salary, pension scheme to an insurer – have become popular in recent years as corporates seek to offload pensions risk from their balance sheets.
Bulk annuity volumes this year are likely to come in a little below a record 49 billion pounds reached in 2023, consultants LCP said in a report on Wednesday.
($1 = 0.7652 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Kirstin Ridley)