Press releases

Legal & General completes telecommunications PRT buyout worth £2.4billion

Telecommunications equipment company Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan exits PPF Assessment with surplus to enhance benefits.

8 Oct 2018

Press release (PDF 53KB)

Legal & General completes £4.4 billion bulk annuity buy-in with British Airways

Legal & General Assurance Society Limited (“Legal & General”) today announces that it has completed a £2.4 billion buyout for the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan, (“The Plan”), covering around 15,500 pensioner members and around 7,200 deferred members.

The Plan’s sponsor went into administration in 2009 and the Plan entered a Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment period, where it has remained whilst worldwide litigation and insolvency proceedings were ongoing.

As part of this process, the Trustee was also able to offer additional flexibility to many members of the Plan through member option exercises allowing those members to reshape their benefits or receive a transfer value. As the Trustee expects to receive more recoveries, a further transaction is likely to follow in future.

Laura Mason, CEO, Legal & General Retirement Institutional:

"We are pleased to have been able to deliver this significant transaction which provides flexibility and greater financial security to the members of the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan."