More companies could shed their pension obligations through buyouts, according to Watson Wyatt.
The consultancy says a sale frees a business of its pension fund liabilities at a lower cost than a fully authorised insurance company would require. This allows a company to offload its liabilities while the buyer makes a profit on an established fund. Watson Wyatt highlights Citigroup’s £200m acquisition of the Thomson Regional Newspaper pension fund earlier this month as the start of a trend. Citigroup became the first bank to buyout an external pension fund in the acquisition. The Citigroup acquisition follows the sale of 75% of Threshers two weeks after a consortium led by Duke Stree...
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