Our Trustees have worked on some of the largest insured transactions seen in the UK, which naturally attract the headlines. But securing the benefits for members of very small schemes is just as important and, working as Sole Trustee, we are delighted to have secured a full scheme buy out of the £600,000 Singer & James scheme. The full text of our press release follows.

Working as Sole Trustee, Capital Cranfield recently secured the full buy out of the Singer & James Retirement Benefits Scheme with Aviva. With assets of only £600,000 this represents one of the smallest deals completed in recent times. In securing the deal the Trustee was advised by Isio Total Reward and Benefits (formerly Deloitte Total Reward and Benefits) pension risk transfer team with Squire Patton Boggs providing legal advice.

Harus Rai, Managing Director of Capital Cranfield, who led the firm’s Sole Trustee team commented, “This deal disproves the myth that insurers are only interested in very large transactions. The key was ensuring that all stakeholders were fully aligned and I would like to thank the advisory team and company for their roles in helping us to achieve an excellent outcome for the membership”.

Tom Whiteley of Isio who led the pension risk transfer advisory team commented, “We are delighted to help to secure a full Scheme buy out for the Singer & James Scheme. Given the size of the Scheme and how busy the bulk annuity market is, it was important that all the preparatory work on the member data and benefit specification was carried out before approaching the market so that the Scheme was ‘transaction ready’. Having clear, well-articulated objectives and an effective governance model including the Trustee, Company and advisers was also crucial to ensuring a successful outcome.

A representative of Singer and James commented “We are grateful to all those involved for their support throughout this project but most importantly the member benefits are now secured for the future.”