On the go: The Unomedical Pension Plan has entered a £10m buyout with Aviva, which shows ongoing appetite from insurers to write smaller contracts.
The bulk annuity deal covers all 65 members of the Unomedical scheme, which is sponsored by international medical products and technologies company ConvaTec Group.
Capital Cranfield, the plan’s sole trustee, was advised by Aon, and the transaction was completed by using the consultant’s Pathway solution, which uses prenegotiated legal contracts to ensure swift and efficient transactions, it said.
Dave Barratt, senior consultant at Aon, noted that after the mega bulk annuity deals of 2019, the Unomedical scheme transaction “is both a reminder and evidence that the market is very much still open to smaller size deals in 2020 — despite all the challenges that this year is bringing”.
While the number of transactions under £100m fell by 30 per cent to 106 in 2019 from 150 in 2014, a sharp uptick in the number of schemes looking to take advantage of attractive insurer pricing is expected.
According to recent research from LCP, the number of small scheme buy-ins and buyouts could increase by 25 per cent in 2020.
