The Signet Group Pension Scheme has agreed a £236m full scheme buy-in with pension insurance specialist Rothesay, protecting the retirement savings of its 1,909 members.

The defined benefit (DB) scheme is sponsored by Signet Group Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Signet Jewelers Limited, a Bermuda-based company that is the world's largest retailer of diamond jewellery and owner of brands such as H. Samuel and Ernest Jones in the UK.

Of the scheme’s 1,909 members, 825 are deferred members and 1,084 are pensioners in payment.

The transaction’s lead broker was Mercer, while legal advice was provided to the scheme by Sackers and to Rothesay by Gowling WLG.

LawDeb chair of the trustee, Alan Baker, said: “We are delighted to have worked with our sponsoring employer to secure the pension benefits for all our members with Rothesay.

“As a purpose-built insurer, Rothesay is an attractive partner for us to ensure our obligations are met and pension benefits provided in full. This is a great outcome for our members and has resulted from a really positive and successful collaboration between all those involved.”

Rothesay business development, Tom Seecharan, commented: “The transition from quotation to signing in such an efficient time frame is a testament to the ambition, organisation and dynamism of the Scheme Trustees and its advisers.

“In a busy market our sophisticated risk and pricing systems allow us to transact at speed and offer schemes and sponsors the certainty they need to protect their members’ pensions.”

Mercer UK head of bulk pensions insurance, David Ellis, added: “We worked closely with the scheme and trustee to ensure we were ready to transact when the scheme funding level and market conditions were favourable.

“In this case, support from the sponsoring employer, combined with the cooperation between parties, ensured the process was completed efficiently, achieving long-term security for all members.”

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