Citigroup pension fund buyout trend 'unlikely'

It says Citigroup would probably not follow its £200m acquisition of the Thomson Regional Newspapers pension fund earlier this month with a string of similar buyouts. The consultancy says Citigroup would only look at closed pension schemes with a mature membership as the bank would want to limit its exposure to longevity risks. Punter Southall says few circumstances exist where a relatively insignificant company with a well funded pension scheme would consider selling the scheme as it would see little risk connected to the scheme. Thomson Regional Newspapers had assets of £46.7m in outst...