Linklaters advise Trustee of the Co-operative Pension Scheme on £1.2bn buy-in with Rothesay Life Plc

Linklaters has acted for Pace Trustees Limited (the Trustee of the Co-operative Pension Scheme (Pace)) in relation to a £1.2bn full buy-in of the pension liabilities of the Bank Section of the Scheme. The insurer is Rothesay Life Plc, and the buy-in secures the pension benefits of over 9000 members, including c.2500 pensioners and c.6500 deferred members. This transaction forms part of the Trustee's long-term plan to de-risk the Scheme which we have been delighted to support for a number of years, such as on the £400m buy-in of the Bank Section in April 2020.

The Linklaters team was led by Phil Goss and supported by John Sheppard, Gareth Craft, Alison Goudarzi and other members of our pensions team, as well as colleagues from other practice areas.

Advising the Trustee of the Co-operative Pension Scheme (Pace) on this transaction builds on Linklaters' market leading experience in the pensions de-risking sector and showcases our depth of expertise in this area, having advised on a number of de-risking transactions for our clients in the course of this year.