European insurance giant Athora has been given the green light by the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) to complete its £5.7bn acquisition of Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).
Athora raised €3.5bn (£3bn) through equity fundraising to help finance the transaction. The deal was announced last year and is expected to be formally completed on 27 March.
Upon completion of the deal, Athora said its assets under management and administration would exceed €130bn, with PIC accounting for around 45% of this total.
Aviva bulk annuity sales fall after ‘more typical’ year
Aviva reported bulk annuity sales totalling just over £4.6bn in 2025, according to its financial results statement, published this week.
This marked a fall of 41% from the £7.8bn of new business written in 2024, which the company said reflected “a more typical year”.
However, the insurer’s individual annuity sales reached almost £1.6bn, up by 19% year-on-year to its highest level since pension freedoms.
Aviva stated: “We have continued to write new [bulk annuity] business at relatively low capital strain, and the internal rate of return has remained above our low-teens guidance.”
Royal London reports strong start to bulk annuity service
Meanwhile, Royal London also reported its annual results this week. In its first full calendar year since entering the bulk annuity market, it completed 18 transactions totalling £1.3bn in value.
This helped the mutual insurer grow its group adjusted operating profit by 18% year-on-year.
Its dealflow in 2025 included a £213m buy-in for the Oxford Instruments Pension Scheme, and a £120m transaction involving three schemes sponsored by German airline Lufthansa.
Canada Life insures Safeway scheme
Earlier this month, Canada Life announced that it had completed an £80m buy-in with the Safeway Pension Scheme, insuring the benefits of around 1,800 members.
The Safeway Pension Scheme is sponsored by Safeway Stores, part of Morrison Supermarkets Group. Morrisons bought the Safeway chain in 2004 and rebranded it.
Aon was the lead broker on the deal, while the trustee board was also advised by Clifford Chance and Gowling WLG.
Shreyas Sridhar, managing director for bulk annuities at Canada Life, said: “Collaboration among all parties was vital to achieving an accelerated transaction process. Working to a tight timescale, a joint working group held early admin preparation calls to ensure the scheme’s readiness, and efficient due diligence enabled swift completion of the agreement once Canada Life was exclusive as its insurer.”
James Staveley-Wadham, associate partner at Aon, added that the scheme’s “highly engaged” trustee board – led by Vidett’s Steve Southern as chair – “allowed us to move swiftly while maintaining a clear focus on securing members’ benefits”.
