IHS Markit has agreed pension risk transfer (PRT) transactions totalling £116.2m with Legal & General (L&G) for its schemes in the UK and the US.

The global information provider firm agreed PRT deals for its IHS (Global) Ltd. Pension and Life Assurance Scheme in the UK and its IHS Retirement Income Plan in the US.

Its UK scheme deal was for £37.8m and covers around 150 members, while its deal for the US scheme was for £78.4m and covers approximately 1,200 members.

The deals mean that L&G has completed 17 bulk annuity transactions in the UK and US in 2020 so far, as of 30 April 2020, securing a total of £1.4bn of member benefits.

Commenting on the announcements, L&G Retirement Institutional CEO, Laura Mason, said: “We are delighted to have been able to work with IHS Markit and the trustees to agree an exciting first for our team – a globally coordinated transaction to simultaneously insure pension liabilities in both the UK and the US.

“First and foremost, we are currently focused on supporting our existing customers during these uncertain times. We are, however, continuing to see strong demand from pension schemes looking to de-risk and we have the team – and systems – in place to continue delivering for both existing and new clients.”

IHS (Global) Ltd. Pension and Life Assurance Scheme chair of trustees, Stafford Napier, added: “This transaction is a key step in our plans to de-risk the provision of pension benefits for our members in the UK. We had been discussing the opportunities for de-risking with our sponsoring employer for a number of years.”

Willis Towers Watson led the advice on both transactions, with Sackers and Blake Morgan providing legal advice to the trustees of the IHS (Global) Ltd. Pension and Life Assurance Scheme in the UK.

Willis Towers Watson transactions specialist, Greg Robertson, said that the deals “further demonstrate the value of innovation in the bulk annuity market”.

He continued: “With demand for transactions still high, it remains important for schemes to differentiate themselves in order to maximise insurer engagement and to secure attractive pricing.

"One of those differentiators might now be a global approach to de-risking. We would anticipate this being one of the key levers that sponsors with UK and US obligations look to utilise going forwards.”

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