The Helaba Pension and Life Assurance Plan has completed a £36m buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), securing the benefits of all 156 pensioner and deferred members.

Barnett Waddingham acted as lead transaction adviser and scheme actuary to the trustees, with Isio serving as investment consultant and CMS providing legal advice.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer advised PIC, and the transaction was supported by the plan sponsor, Helaba, also known as Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen, which is a commercial bank, central bank, and partner for the German Sparkassen.

Helaba Pension and Life Assurance Plan chair of trustees, Andrew Ashley Taylor, said that the deal would improve security for members' benefits, and thanked the scheme advisers for the "clear and smooth" process.

"It is the culmination of several years of hard work and diligent stewardship by the trustees supported by their advisers, and special thanks to the plan sponsor, without whose support the transaction would not have been possible," he continued.

Barnett Waddingham head of risk transfer and partner, Richard Gibson, added: "We are delighted to have led this transaction on behalf of the trustees to secure a successful transaction in a competitive risk transfer market.

"Our sincere thanks to the trustees, all advisers, and PIC for collaborating so effectively to achieve this transaction," he said.

The bank's agreement with PIC marked the latter's second buy-in this week, after it completed a £4.3bn deal with the Rolls-Royce UK Pension Fund yesterday.

PIC co-head of origination, Tristan Walker-Buckton, emphasised the firm’s appetite to serve schemes across the market, stating that it was "rewarding" to have concluded the buy-in.

"PIC has both the appetite and the ability to transact across the whole market, giving schemes of all sizes an attractive option to achieve their objective of providing their members with long-term pension security," he continued.

"We look forward to working with the trustees to provide the members of the fund with a smooth transition to becoming PIC policyholders."

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