Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund secures £490 million of members’ benefits thanks to buy-in with Legal & General

11 Dec 2017

Legal & General Group plc (“Legal & General”) have secured £490 million of members’ pension benefits through a buy-in transaction with The Trustee of the £3 billion Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund (MNOPF).

The MNOPF was an early and significant adopter of innovative de-risking transactions, having completed its first bulk annuity transaction back in 2009 with Lucida Limited, which was acquired by Legal & General in August 2013.

Today’s announcement follows a £1.5 billion longevity insurance transaction covering the benefits of the Fund’s “New Section” members in 2014, and the new buy-in arrangement covers all the Fund’s retirees since that date meaning the benefits of all current pensioners are now hedged against longevity risk.

Our relationship with the Trustee has been a long-standing one and we are pleased to be able to assist them in the next stage of their de-risking journey.

Chris DeMarco, Managing Director of UK Pension Risk Transfer for Legal & General