Moog Retirement Benefits Plan secures £25 million buy-in with Just Group

The Moog Retirement Benefits Plan has completed a £25m buy-in with Just Group securing benefits for 167 members.

For the past three years, Open Trustees has worked closely with Gallagher to monitor the affordability of a potential buy-in. In 2022, Gallagher was appointed as risk transfer brokers for the transaction, and subsequently established a Joint Working Group between Open Trustees and the Sponsor to manage the buy-in.

Throughout this time, the Trustees undertook a series of tasks to thoroughly prepare the scheme for a buy-in transaction with Gallagher’s support. Following a careful monitoring period, the buy-in timeline accelerated in May 2024. Gallagher’s risk transfer team notified the Trustees of a pricing opportunity. With favourable pricing secured that fell well within agreed tolerances, Open Trustees were able to move quickly and soon positioned the scheme for a successful transaction.

In June 2024, the Trustees signed the contract and entered into the final £25m buy-in policy agreement.

Due to careful preparation, all parties were well ahead of the market and had fully implemented GMP equalisation ahead of the buy-in transaction through Gallagher’s solution, Square. As a direct result, we were able to approach the market sooner and will benefit from more certainty on the results of the true-up period, which have now begun.

Jonathan Hazlett, Managing Director at Open Trustees, said:

“We’ve worked very closely in recent years with our fellow trustees, Moog Controls Limited and Gallagher to get the Plan “buy-out ready”. We’re really pleased to have secured Plan members’ benefits in full with Just Group at a competitive price in a busy market in short timescales. This transaction is evidence of the great value associated with working collaboratively with your sponsor, advisers and an insurer on an exclusive basis to secure members’ pensions for the future.”

Mark van den Berghen, Head of Risk Transfer at Gallagher, said:

“We are delighted to have worked with the Plan’s Trustees in collaborating to achieve a favourable outcome for the scheme members. All parties were committed to values of open communication, innovation, and flexibility which meant we were able to move at pace to conclude the transaction at such a busy time of year.”

Alma Goyanes-Payne, Deal Manager at Just Group, said:

“We are proud to have secured the benefits for the Plan’s members in a transaction that was enabled by our highly successful bulk quotation and monitoring service, Beacon. The completion of another buy-in reflects our continuing relationship with Gallagher and shows that a collaborative approach can deliver deals for schemes of all sizes in a busy and buoyant market.”