Canada Life has insured a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme sponsored by a specialist underwriting firm in a deal worth £36m.
The scheme, attached to HSB Engineering Insurance Services Limited, has 191 pensioners and 128 deferred members, all of whom are now insured by Canada Life.
HSB is an underwriter focused solely on engineering and technology insurance and inspection services across construction, manufacturing, leisure, retail and commercial sectors, as well as public services.
Mercer was the lead broker on the transaction, as well as providing actuarial and investment advice services to the scheme. The trustees were led by professional trustee firm Vidett and received legal advice from Pinsent Masons.
Ben Salmons, client director at Vidett, said: “As with many schemes, the journey to buy-in has been a long road. I would like to recognise the huge amount of work, collaboration and commitment from the trustees, our advisers and the sponsor to get to this milestone.”
Salmons added that the trustees had opted for Canada Life in part because of competitive pricing but also due to “commitment to delivering great outcomes for the scheme and our members”.
Vidett is the most active professional trustee firm in the bulk annuities space, according to data collated and analysed by Pensions Expert.
Of 132 bulk annuity announcements since the start of 2023 that named a professional trustee firm, 28 – or more than one in five – involved Vidett.
Three other firms accounted for more than one in 10 announcements naming a professional trustee: Capital Cranfield, Independent Governance Group (IGG), and BESTrustees.
In total, Pensions Expert analysed 302 announcements – predominantly press releases – issued between the start of 2023 and the end of the first quarter of 2026, with deals worth a combined £110bn.
More analysis and data from this study will be released in the coming weeks.
