The Stantec Pension Plan (UK Section), for the sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consultancy, has secured a full buy-in covering 680 members.  

The transaction with Aviva – using their Clarity service – completed in May and insures benefits of all remaining 629 deferred and 51 pensioner members.   

Trustee chair James Duggan, a client director at trustee firm Vidett, said: “This process was well managed by our advisers who provided clear and understandable advice throughout. The insurer selection meetings were a crucial part of our process to choose the right insurer; we prepared and identified the characteristics to put our members at the very top of our priorities, and by selecting Aviva we have chosen to partner with an iInsurer that we felt will best deliver great member outcomes.”  

The scheme was advised by Broadstone, which used its SM&RT Insure process to get insurer quotes. 

Broadstone said the scheme was a legacy insured arrangement, so it worked with the trustees and insurer to secure suitable surrender terms, taking into account the guarantees in the policy. The buy-in with Aviva was then made using the scheme assets.  

Broadstone provided annuity broking alongside their existing services for actuarial, investment consultancy and scheme administration. The trustees had legal advice from DLA Piper. 

Bob Jenkinson, deal lead at Broadstone, said the trustees undertook robust due diligence and challenged the participating insurers on their offerings, adding: “We demonstrated that this approach is still an important part of these projects even where insurers’ streamlined solutions are used.” 

Andrew Shaposhnikov, BPA deal manager at Aviva, said: “Through our Clarity proposition, we were able to deliver an efficient transaction and look forward to providing long-term security and a high-quality experience for the Plan’s members.”