Standard Life is targeting larger bulk annuity deals with £2bn of expanded capacity through a partnership deal with several major financial services groups.
In a statement this morning, the company announced a “strategic partnership” with private markets firm CVC Capital Partners and US insurance giant Prudential Financial, as well as Goldman Sachs and Japanese insurance company and Standard Life shareholder MS&AD Insurance Group.
The consortium – which also includes other unnamed institutional investors – is designed to “significantly expand” Standard Life’s capacity to take on new bulk annuity business, “including the largest and most complex” schemes, it said.
Standard Life’s biggest bulk annuity transaction to date was a £1.9bn deal to insure the Sedgwick section of Marsh’s UK defined benefit (DB) pension scheme, announced in August 2025. The company said it expected DB schemes at the “upper end of the market” to influence a growing share of the derisking space, despite the recent spike in small scheme transactions.
“By bringing together our comprehensive PRT capabilities with our partners’ specialist private markets capabilities and significant capital resources, coupled with a trusted and well-known brand in Standard Life, we will be able to offer trustees and sponsors for the largest pension schemes an alternative to secure the pensions of their members across the UK.”
Standard Life is investing £500m in the arrangement, while CVC, Prudential Financial and Goldman Sachs are to provide asset origination services in private markets. This was expected to improve Standard Life’s pricing and flexibility for large bulk annuities, the company indicated.
The consortium is subject to regulatory approval and will operate under a stand-alone brand, Standard Life PRT Solutions. Nuwan Goonetilleke, interim CEO for Standard Life’s retirement solutions and asset management business, has been named chief executive officer of the new consortium.
He said: “This partnership has been deliberately structured to continue to secure high-quality outcomes for members, while supporting trustees in executing complex de-risking transactions with confidence, combining Standard Life’s expertise with access to a diversified set of best-in-class private markets originators. Our consortium approach enhances our ability to deliver competitive pricing and innovative structuring for trustees, while maintaining Standard Life’s independence and control.”
CVC previously invested in Pension Insurance Corporation, before it was bought by European insurance giant Athora last year. Peter Rutland, president of CVC, said the arrangement with Standard Life was “ideally suited to CVC’s insurance asset management franchise and credit origination capabilities”.
