K3 Advisory, the pension market’s only specialist independent bulk annuity and consolidator advisory business, has completed a GBP3 million buy-out deal for the defined benefit scheme of Shepherd Foods (London) Limited, the family-owned operator of neighbourhood grocery stores in Central London, including Partridges. The deal with Aviva completed on 25 February and secures the benefits for 11 deferred and two pensioner members.
Thomas Crawshaw, Senior Actuarial Consultant and transaction lead at K3 Advisory, comments: “The Shepherd family were keen to complete the next phase in their de-risking journey. We helped the scheme get transaction-ready, so it was in a position to strike quickly, securing the benefits for the remaining scheme members at an opportunistic time in the market. This enabled the sponsoring employer to fund the transaction on attractive terms.”
Sole Independent Trustee, Lyndon Jones, of StractAct Consulting, comments: “This is a great result for all parties concerned, and it’s particularly rewarding to have been able to present an attractive deal to the sponsoring employer to secure the members’ benefits. This is my first experience of working with Thomas and the K3 team and I have to say they provided excellent support throughout. They guided us right the way through the buy-out transaction and we can now move on to the final stages of the scheme’s de-risking journey.”
Legal advice to the Trustee was provided by Shoosmiths.
